Long Time No See
by coolbeanie
Summary: The flock has had it easy for a while, but things go very wrong. There's a new Institute, but is it like the old one? What trouble lies beneath those walls? And can Max handle everything alone? Read to find out.
1. Peace at last?

**Before I go on, I'd like to say that I don't own any of the characters of Maximum Ride, because James Patterson is amazing. No here we go...

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"_Max!"_

Someone was calling my name in the distance. I tried to yell back, but nothing came out. I tried to move, but my body was tied down. I was lying in a dark room wearing a shredded hospital gown and little slippers. My teeth were chattering, the room must have been like 50 degrees. I was struggling to breathe, but the ropes were too tight on my chest.

"_MAX!"_

The voice was screaming now. I tried to escape. The ropes holding me down started to loosen a bit. I kept on trying and finally I was able to break free. I ran around in pitch black trying to find a door. The lights flipped on suddenly. I was inside of a large glass room. Outside there was my flock, they were running around looking for me. I pressed myself against the glass screaming to them, but I couldn't scream. I banged the glass as hard as I could. They didn't even notice me.

"_MAX! WHERE ARE YOU?"_

"I'm right here! Look at me!" I screamed. Suddenly, they were gone. They ran away down the hall screaming for me. Tears swelled in my eyes, I tried to hold them back.

"Hello Max."

I jumped at the growling voice and spun around. There he was, his eyes were cold and black, like death. Ari stood there with an evil smile on his face. I clenched my fists and walked toward him.

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I woke up on the wet floor of the forest drenched with sweat. We were in Florida near the beach. We _were_ on the run, but the kids wanted to stop here. I sat up and saw a fire crackling in front of me. It was still night, probably before dawn. I saw the kids all sound asleep; I counted their heads, just to make sure they were all there. I counted four heads, one was missing. I stood up and saw Fang sitting on the ground a few feet away. I forgot that he was on the first watch.

I walked over and plopped down next to him.

"Hey." I said looking at the moon.

'Hi." he looked at me curiously, "What was your dream about?"

"How did you know?" I said dumbfounded.

"I heard you mumbling in your sleep. Must have been a nightmare, right?"

"Yeah, it was nothing." I lied.

Actually, it was a bad nightmare. I mean I've had plenty of reoccurring dreams about the school, but not this one.

"Was Ari in it?" How does he always read my mind like that?

"Yup."

"I've been thinking about him lately too. He always seems to be there. And he always wants to hurt you before anyone else. I just don't want him here anymore."

Wow, he has never said anything like this before. It's kinda creepy, but nice in a way. If that's possible.

"Yeah, it's getting crazy."

There was silence for a while. Finally I said, "You can go get some rest, I'll take over."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, can't sleep anyways."

He patted my shoulder. We held out our fists and tapped, then he went to go lay down. I looked back up at the moon.

"_You're special Max, remember that."_

What? How the hell am I special? This whole thing sucks, and _I'm_ supposed to be special?

"_Yes, and you have a mission in life. There's no time to be weak."_

I felt tears start to fall down my cheeks. "I'm not weak!" I yelled out loud.

Suddenly there was a tap on my shoulder. I jump and spun around. There was Fang. He must have heard me. I wiped my eyes and forced out a "Hi."

"What wrong? Was it the Voice?" he said.

"Yeah, sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No, I couldn't sleep anyways. So what's up?"

"Nothing."

"Um, I know you better than that. Talk to me."

"It's just; everyone keeps saying that I'm special. But, I don't know what that means. I have all of these roles and missions, but I don't even know who I am yet."

I started to cry. I hated crying, especially in front of Fang. I expected him to laugh at me or something, but his eyes softened.

"I know who you are. You're Maximum Ride. You're the strongest person I know, next to me of course."

I forced out a smile.

"No, but you are the leader. You know that you have us to help you. We're family, sorta."

He put his hands on my face, and softly wiped away my tears. He looked me straight in the eyes for a few seconds.

Then he said, "And you have me to catch you when you start to freak out and fall out of the sky."

I pushed him away laughing. He fell sideways and smiled brightly. He looked like he wanted to say something more. "But you can't stop going on now. To me you're-"

"Hi guys!" Nudge popped out of no where. "I'm hungry. What's for breakfast?"

Iggy got up, along with Angel and Gazzy. We all started to make bacon and eggs, which by the way, we stole from a house near by. Whoops! After we ate, the kids wanted to go to the beach and play. I gave in and we went.

The girls walked along the shore looking for seashells. Gazzy went to look for rocks for his collection. He started one a few days ago and he already has about 100. I'm sure it must be hard to fly with a bunch of rocks in your backpack but whatever.

Iggy, Fang, and me sat in the sand and attempted to make sand castles. Mine ended up looking like a pile of mush. Iggy and Fang's was amazing of course. The girls then wanted to go in the ocean. I let them go in; they used the puppy dog eyes of course. Gazzy and Iggy joined them, and I laid down and let the sun beat down on me. It felt good to be on a peaceful beach. I felt like I was there for pleasure, instead of hiding.

The next this I new, Angel and Gazzy were in front of me dripping wet with mischievous smiles on their faces. They pulled me up and tried to push me in the water. They struggled for a bit, but then since it was so hot out, I let them dunk me in. We splashed around for a few minutes, but I notice Fang just standing there watching us. I got out and walked over quietly. I put my hands around his waist and pushed him in. He was kind of mad at first, but he started to have fun with us. He pulled of his shirt like the rest of the boys and started to splash around.

We played for a few minutes, but then Iggy stopped and looked really serious. Everyone else seemed to notice and stop too. Iggy said that he heard something in the woods coming toward us. We all trusted his instincts so I got out and ordered everyone to get out, and start to dry off. I told them to stay there and get packed while I go into the woods and look around. I was about half way to the woods but Fang stopped me.

"What are you doing? It could be Erasers."

"I know. That's why I'm going with you. I put Iggy and Gazzy in charge."

"Oh _great_." I said sarcastically, "But be quiet."

We started to tiptoe towards the trees. A few feet in, I tripped over a stupid rock and fell flat on my face. I jumped up quickly, hoping Fang didn't see me. I looked back and saw him smiling. He caught up and said, "Well Miss Graceful, I should go first to make sure there are no rocks for you to fall on." I glared at him but smiled at my own stupidity.

I watched him in front of me. He was so muscular; I didn't realize that he was until now when he had his shirt off. He actually looked good. Of course, I wasn't paying attention and I tripped again. But, to make matters worse, I fell on him this time.

We both fell over on the ground. He rolled over laughing and looked at me. He started to pick the leaves out of my hair, and I started to laugh too. We stopped and laid there looking at each other for a few seconds. His hair was all wet from the ocean and water droplets were falling from his nose. We both started to laugh again.

A couple feet away I heard footsteps. I looked up and saw a furry foot in front of me.

"Hey guys. Whatcha laughing at?" said a growling voice.

I knew right away who it was. I jumped up and looked at him. He had 10 erasers all spread out and wearing a nice toothy grin.

"Hello, Ari. What a nice surprise."


	2. The fight

**Hi, thank you for the reviews! They mean alot to me! And once again, I don't own any character, even though I wish that I did.

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"Sorry, was I interrupting something?"

Fang looked at me and back at Ari. "No."

"Good; now, where are the rest of you?"

"Not here."

"Max?" I turned around and there was little Angel with her bright blue eyes looking up at me. My heart started to melt. I couldn't let them have her again.

"Go back, now!" I whispered loudly.

"No Max." Behind her walked Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy. "We can't."

I knew I couldn't let them be here, but a part of me was actually thankful that they were.

"_Go with it Max. Their tough, let them stay. Be smart._"

Fine, sure, let the 6 year old use her mind to control them. That's very smart of me.

"Great, now we have the family, even more fun." Ari said looking at them.

Before I could say anything back, the Erasers came charging towards us. Two came after me. They seemed weak enough to handle. The first one tried to take my arm and put it behind me, but without even looking I kicked him in the jaw and heard a nice crack. He fell to the ground. The next one was useless. I punched him in the nose and he dropped like a rock. Why was this so easy? Something wasn't right.

I looked to my side and saw Nudge defeating her Eraser with ease. Angel was just standing there smiling with one at her feet. Gazzy and Iggy both were finished with their Erasers as well. Fang wiped his mouth on his arm and looked at me confused.

Ari was in front of me smiling like an idiot.

"What is going on?" I said.

"Nothing." his smile got creepier.

I turned to look at the kids, "you guys go to the cave and stay there. Be on the look out but don't go anywhere. They nodded and ran away. I looked at Fang expecting him to take off too. He just shook his head, "No."

"Fang, you need to go now. I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself"

Fang looked at me blankly and nodded. He then ran back toward the beach.

"I have you for myself Max."

"Ari, what do you want from me?"

"Nothing, I just miss you." He stepped towards me and pushed me backwards. I stumbled, but caught myself. He smiled at me and winked. He opened his mouth to say something but I hit him right in the stomach. He lost his breath and kneeled forward. I started to run.

I ran a few feet, but then out of no where he caught my arm and pushed me down. I fell on my side and he rolled me to my back. He sat on my chest and pinned me down so I couldn't move.

"Oh, Max. Don't run. You know you missed me too."

He took one hand off me and ran his claw over my face, tracing my cheeks.

"You know I can kill you right now, right?"

He then ran his nail across my neck putting on enough pressure to cut my skin. I could feel the blood from my cut trickling down my neck.

With my one free arm, I reached and felt the ground slowly around me. As my hand came in contact with a big rock, I picked it up and held it tight.

I smiled nicely, "Yes, and you know that a frickin' hate you, right?"

I swung my arm up and smashed the rock into his head. He fell on his side and I got up to run, but unexpectedly he grabbed my leg and pulled me back down. I looked at him and he smiled with blood all over his head.

"What the hell?"

"Cool new feature Max, can't die, pretty nice, right?"

I screamed and kicked him in the face as hard as I could. He spun around, but kicked me in the stomach. I bent over gasping for air to breathe. Before I could, he pulled his knee up toward my face, hitting me in the nose. I felled my nose break and the warm liquid pour out. I looked up at him.

"Oops. Sorry."

I stood up, swaying a little, but I force myself to pull it together. I threw myself at him, kicking and hitting as hard as I could. He pushed me off of him and clawed at me. I tried to duck from his nails but I wasn't fast enough. He cut me from my stomach all the way down to my legs.

I stepped back in shock. I looked down and saw deep cuts on me, they were disgusting. I looked back at him with fire in my eyes. He tilted his head back and laughed. I looked at him wondering what I could do to hurt him.

Finally I went for it and swung my leg to kick him right between his legs. He yelped and fell to the ground holding himself. I smiled and turned to run, when suddenly he grabbed my waist and threw me against a tree. I hit my head on a branch and fell.

My head was spinning. I looked up and saw him standing over me. He was holding his ear and whispering something to himself, but I couldn't make out the words. I tried to get up but I didn't move.

"Max!" someone called.

Ari looked away, then back at me and said, "Sorry Maxie, gotta go. But I'll see you soon." He then ran away.

"Max!" someone called again. The figure came closer and bent down next to me. It touched my head and said, "Oh, Max."

Before I could answer back, I blacked out.


	3. Painful happiness

**And I want to say, I don't own any of the character. James Patterson is amazing! But I did make the plot itself. Okay, here we go…**

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"Is she okay?"

"Will she wake up soon?"

"How bad is it?"

I awoke sometime during the day to faint whispers all around be. I couldn't tell who it was, or where they were coming from. All I could remember before blacking out against a tree was someone calling my name and running towards me.

Though I wasn't quite sure of were I was, I didn't want to open my eyes; I was scared of what I might find.

A few seconds after I woke up, a wave of pain came over me. I felt as if I'd been chopped up and put into a blender. My legs and arms throbbed, my stomach stung, and my head was spinning around in circles. I let out a deep moan, and opened my eyes a little. I saw that I was in a corner of what looked to be a cave. I was also on top of a blanket, and my leg was propped up on a stack of pillows. It was cool, and there was a slight breeze coming from somewhere. I shivered a little as the breeze swept across my skin. I then realized that I felt very bare for some reason. I looked down and saw that I was laying there in only my underwear and night shirt, which was rolled up revealing my bare and wounded stomach. I panicked and jumped up to cover myself (which I might add, hurt unbelievably!).

"Max, you're up!"

I looked to my side and saw Nudge running over. She looked tired, but happy. I was so relieved to see her smiling face, and not a whitecoat. I wanted to cry when I saw her, but I knew that if I did, my tears would only sting my face, doubling the pain that I already was in.

"Oh, and don't worry, nobody's here except me. Well, Iggy did come in to fix your hip, it was displaced, but he can't see anyways! I'm so happy to see you!"

I sighed and tried to crack a weak smile; that only made my nose throb.

"How's the pain? You don't look as bad as you did yesterday."

I looked at her confused, "I's not good. Yester-day?"

I jumped a little at the sound of my voice, it sounded so hoarse, and rough. It sounded like it wasn't really me talking.

"Yeah, you were asleep since yesterday afternoon. When you came back here, you were all covered in blood. If Fang hadn't gone back for you, you'd have been...well it would have been worse."

"F-Fang was there?"

My stomach did a flip. It was Fang there when I passed out. He actually came back for me. I didn't think he would, since I'd told him not to.

"Yeah, he carried you hear. He was so worried; we all were."

Nudge's eyes filled with sadness. I felt bad to have made them all worry like that.

"Nudge, I'm sorry. Where is everyone?"

"They all went out to find dinner with Fang. They will be back soon. Do you think you'll be strong enough to see everyone?"

"Of course, I- I think I can move a little. Um, Nudge, do you think you can get me some water?"

"Sure; you just rest, and try not to move. I'll be right back."

I watched her walk away towards the front of the cave, until I knew she couldn't see me. I wanted to see if I really _could _move, because I had no idea. I tried lifting my arms up, they hurt, but I was able to move them. I then tried to sit up. I started to lift my head slowly off the ground, that wasn't too bad._ So_ _far, so good,_ I thought to my self as I started to lift my back. I was about half way up, but then my stomach started to really sting. I couldn't help but moan from frustration.

It sucked that I was stuck like this, it ruined everything. And worst of all, Ari did it. But, he wasn't like the normal Eraser Ari, he was scarier. He became creepier since I last saw him.

"_Things are going to be changing Max. Get ready, because there is more to come."_

"Shut up for a while, okay?" I whispered to it out loud.

This is so stupid. Everything seemed better, and now this? What else could there be? The Erasers already flew, and now they're suddenly indestructible? This isn't supposed to be happening. I tried to keep everyone safe, but I only ended up hurting myself. And now, things are going to get worse for us?

"Here you go Max!" Nudge said, pulling me back to reality.

I took the water and started to practically inhale it. I was so thirsty; I finished it in two gulps.

I looked at her and asked, "When do you think everybody will be back?"

"Well, actually, they're already here. I told them to stay outside until you said they could come in. They are all really excited that you are awake. They brought back some hotdogs and buns. We were going to have a cookout, but only if you are okay. I mean, I don't want you to be in pain or anything. It must be bad though, because you're-"

"Nudge," I said finally, "You can let them in. But, can you, help me get my shorts on?"

I was embarrassed to ask her for help like that, especially for this. But, I could barely move. Thankfully, she just smiled and carefully helped me put them on. Then I rolled down my shirt slowly. It was difficult, but I tried to be careful and make sure that I didn't touch any of my wounds.

When I was finally done, I took the pillows out from under my leg, and put them under my head so I could sit up a little. Nudge ran outside and told everyone to come in.

Angel and Gazzy sprinted in and sat next to me beaming. Iggy came jogging in after them smiling, and then Fang slowly walked in looking at his feet with crossed arms.

I noticed him, but forgot about it once I saw Gazzy and Angel. They made sure not to pounce on me, which I was happy about. They just took both of my hands and squeezed them tightly. Angel then started to cry a little.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling. It did hurt like hell, but I was so overwhelmed by seeing them all. I ruffled Gazzy's hair, and rubbed Angel's cheek. Iggy came and sat down on the other side of me. He 'looked' at me with his light blue, sightless eyes and a smile that lit up his whole face. I took his hand and held it tight.

He smiled even bigger and asked, "So, how's your hip? Personally, I feel like I did an alright job."

"It's perfect, thanks." I said, but I felt badly about everything. "I'm really sorry you guys, I didn't want it to happen like this."

I started to cry a little. I hated crying more than anything, but this time, I didn't care.

"We know. I love you Max." Angel said.

"Me too. But, don't let it happen again." Gazzy said jokingly.

"Yeah. So now, do you mind if we all eat now?" Iggy said.

"Yeah, you guys go set it up over there." I laughed, taking over the leader role again.

They all went over to get out the hot dogs, and they started to make a small fire. Fang just stood there against the wall, not moving at all.

"Hey." He finally said, not looking up from the ground.

"Hey." I said. I didn't really know what else to say. He didn't seem to be very responsive, so I didn't want to be like, 'hey, thanks for going back for me, and carrying me here, even though you got my blood all over yourself'. Yeah, that doesn't seem like the right thing to say right now.

"Um," he said while clearing his throat, "How are you, uh, doing?"

"Okay, thanks." I said awkwardly. This was a very smooth conversation (sarcasm).

Before he could say anything else, Gazzy ran over and said that the fire was ready.

"I can make you some Max, and then we can all come and eat it with you."

"Yeah, sure, that would be awesome. Oh, and can I have like, six, if you don't mind."

He laughed, "No problem, we have a lot of hotdogs." He ran away.

Fang looked over at the fire, and then down at the ground again and said, "Well, I guess I should go over and make a hotdog." He tried to chuckle a little, but I could tell it was fake. He then walked away slowly over towards the fire.

I closed my eyes for a minute, or two, and tried to soak everything in. I never realized how thankful I am for these kids. I love them so much, and I wished that I could give them everything, and anything, in the world. But, these thoughts just made me feel worse. I knew that I couldn't give them everything; that was pretty much impossible right now.

"_You _are_ special, and you can do _more_ than you think you can."_

'Okay, I got it, thanks. Now, go away.' I thought to myself.

"Dinner!" Iggy called out.

Everyone came over with handfuls of hotdogs and plopped down all around me. Gazzy handed me six hotdogs. I was so hungry; I stuffed a whole hotdog in my mouth and swallowed. Everyone looked at me shocked. I just smiled and kept on eating.

We had a great dinner together. Everyone was in a good mood, except Fang of course. He just sat in the back and looked down at his feet while he ate. When Iggy or Gazzy cracked a joke, he looked up at me for a few seconds, and then looked right back down. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed.

After dinner, everyone was stuffed, including me. We all decided to hit the hay. So we stacked fists and tapped once. Then everybody went to their blankets and fell right to sleep. I guess everyone was tired from the busy, and emotional, day.

I tried to close my eyes to sleep, but I didn't feel very tired. I tried to think of something well, like at the beach the other day. But everything I thought about brought my thoughts right back to the fight with Ari. When Ari said _'Cool new feature'_ just kept playing over and over in my head.

After I opened my eyes, I realized there was something moving near me. I looked up and saw Fang sitting a few feet away by himself. He looked so serious just sitting there in the dark and looking out toward the night sky. He seemed to be thinking about something.

"Hey, what are you doing up?" I said, trying to sound normal.

"Nothing; I just can't sleep." He said not looking at me. I started to get frustrated.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just thinking." He said with a bit of an attitude.

"If you're so fine, then why aren't you looking at me? You haven't said more than like, five words to me. I'm trying to say thank-you to you, but you-"

"Max, stop; I'm sorry. I'm just, ugh, I don't know."

I was starting to get annoyed now.

"Fang, I'm sorry to. And, thank-you for going back for me. I know I was stupid to take on Ari alone. But still-"

"Max, just be quiet for a second," he said to me in a soft tone. "It's just that you really scared me yesterday. I- I thought you were going to, you know, die."

I looked at him shocked._ I_ scared _Fang_. That never happens, except that one time when I tried cutting the chip out of my arm, but still.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I-"

"What happened to you? You've never gotten hurt like that from Ari. I, I just saw you there all covered in blood against that tree. And Ari was just standing there. But you, you were a mess."

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to put it.

"Well, I did put up a good fight. And so did Ari. But, he was different, like creepier." I tried to say more, but my word got all tangled up. _'Cool new feature'_ popped into my head again.

"Okay, well, I'm not sure how many Erasers there are like this, but he-"

"Say it already Max." Fang said anxiously.

"Ari said that he was indestructible." I said. Fang just looked at me blankly, with his dark eyes wide.

"I smashed a big rock into his head and he bled, but wasn't hurt. I couldn't fight him." I started to tear up a little bit. I tried to suck it back in, but I didn't do a very good job at it.

Fang looked at me worried. He moved a little bit closer to me and he put his hand on top of mine.

"It's okay, we will try to do something, I have no idea what, but we will. You know, you don't always have to do everything alone."

"I know, I guess."

Fang then did something unexpected; he leaned in toward me and kissed my cheek.

"Ow!" I said. He had kissed me right on a bruise.

"Oh, sorry." He said, blushing furiously.

We both started laughing, as he brushed a hair from my face. He smiled so brightly, his dark eyes showing so much happiness.

"Well Fang, I guess you're stuck with me forever."

"_Great_." He said jokingly, still smiling.

"_Get used to change Max. There is more to come. Be ready."_

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**Okay everybody. Thank-you for reviewing, and for the tips! R&R please!**

**It's not over yet for the flock…**


	4. New plan

"ARI!" Jeb called out as the boy appeared from the hallway. He leaned against the door sill with a blank expression swept across his face.

"What did you think you were doing! You weren't supposed to do it like that!" He screamed at the boy angrily.

Ari took a stepped into the room. He looked just like a regular nine year old boy. Except his scruffy dark brown hair fell onto his bruised face, revealing a stitched up gash on the side of his head. His was hair still matted with blood from the wound.

"Ari, I told you to go there and get rid of the old Erasers. Not to destroy Max in the process! You weren't even supposed to _touch_ Max!" Jeb's face started to get red.

Ari stood there glaring at the ground, not even flinching at the loud screams being yelled into his face. Jeb looked at him and pulled at the blue satin tie around his neck.

"You ruined our plans Ari. She wasn't supposed to find out what your new feature is yet. Now the whole flock will find out, and that will ruin everything." He then started pacing back and forth in front of his desk with his hand inside his pockets.

"Well," he said after a long pause, "I guess you did what you wanted to do."

Jeb stopped pacing and leaned against his desk with his hands on his lap. He waited for Ari to say something, but just Ari stood in front of him looking at his feet.

"Ari, do you have any explanation for this stupid thing you did? Because, well frankly, I'd like to hear it"

Ari didn't move. He hated their attempt to capture the flock, by practically killing them in the process. It was the 'eliminate of surprise', as they'd always say. They just wanted Max for themselves, since she is so 'special' and all. He hated her even more for that.

After a few seconds passed, he looked up and stared into Jeb's icy blue eyes. "No." He said firmly. Jeb looked at him, as he stood up and crossed his arms.

"No?"

"No," Ari said glaring at Jeb, "I guess I'm just a stupid little Eraser."

Jeb walked over, and stop

ped right in front of him, with Ari's nose barely touching his crossed arms.

"Okay. You can leave, I have a lot of work to do now." He said, narrowing his eyes down at him.

Ari started to walk away, but stopped at the doorway and turned around.

"Why don't you just try to add more crap onto me, _Dad_? 'Cause either way, you'll still get your precious little Maximum Ride.

With that, Ari turned around and walked away, leaving Jeb sitting behind his desk furious. Jeb rummaged through the pile of papers on his desk. Suddenly he froze as he picked up a single x-ray.

He walked over to the window and held it up. The x-ray showed what seemed to be a smaller version of a regular human body. He squinted as he leaned forward to get a better look. The skeleton then revealed an unusual thickness to its bone. Its rib change was wider, and its head contained a protruding mouth, with little jagged razor teeth inside. A long tail was also attached to its lower back which curved inward to make a large arch.

Jeb smiled. "Perfect."

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**How do you likeit? R&R pleaze!**


	5. Another day

Hello everyone. Another installment for you today.

Oh yeah, and I do not own the characters or theme of this book. James is the Man! haha

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"Up and at 'em Max." Gazzy said, lightly shaking my shoulder. 

My eyes flew open and the sunlight stung my eyes. I looked around and everyone was all dressed and eating breakfast.

"What time is it?" I asked him franticly.

"Almost nine o'clock."

9:00! How could I have slept in that late? I'm usually the first to get up. way before anyone else!

"Okay, thanks. I'm sorry about that, you can go and eat. I'll be right there." I said, trying not to sound so frustrated. He didn't seem to notice as he walked away to eat.

How could I have slept in? What if something had happened and I wasn't there? I was right about to jump out of my sleeping bag, when I looked down and realized that I still had a that big gash in my stomach. I didn't look as bad as yesterday and it wasn't quite as painful, but it still hurt. But, I had to get up. So I pushed the blanket off of me and tried to bend my legs. They seemed to be okay, sore, but okay. Then I put my hands to my sides and tried to push myself off of the ground. Right when I was about to, Fang saw me and came running over.

"What, are you crazy? You're going to reopen your cut this way." He said with a concerned look.

"I have to get up. I've got to try."

Before he could say anything else, I pushed my self off the ground and onto my feet. My stomach throbbed, but it wasn't too bad. Once I was on my feet, I staggered a bit but caught myself. I felt well enough to try and walk. But when I took my first step, my knee shot a siring pain down my leg. I gasped and fell to the side. Luckily Fang caught me before I hit the ground. He then shot me the 'I told you so' look and picked me up. He walked me back to my sleeping bag and laid me down. I couldn't help myself but glare at him in frustration.

'Why does this have to happen now?' I thought to myself and groaned groaned.

"You stay right there. Don't move." He said smirking at me as he started to walk away.

"Fa-ang," I said in my best whiney voice (he hates when anyone does that to him), "Can you at least bring me over to eat?" I pulled down my bottom lip and gave him Angel's famous puppy dog eyes.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. He then took the ends of my sleeping bag and pulled me over. The rest of the kids looked at him and laughed. He whispered me under his breath "You so owe me for this", and dropped my sleeping bad with a thud.

"Max, are you okay?" Angel said to me with a mouth full of cereal.

"Not really I guess. Hey, Iggy? Can you hand me the cereal box in front of you?"

He took the box and handed it to me, well to the side of me. I took it and reached in. I got a handful of the corn flakes and shoved then in my mouth. Gazzy looked at me funny, "What?" I asked with my mouth full.

"Um, do you wanna bowl?" he asked as he picked up a bowl and handed it to me. I took it and started to pour some in. Nudge giggled and Fang rolled his eyes again.

I hated this. I felt so stupid, asking them to do all of these things for me. Some leader I was. I had to get better, and fast. We needed to me careful around here now. Who knows when we will get attacked?

"Guys," I said, they looked up at me, "Well, you this whole fight thing that Ari and I had right? Well, the reason I came back like this, is because Ari said that he had a 'cool new feature'."

Everybody raised there eye brows at me.

"I know this sounds insane, but I guess it's true, because he didn't ever get hurt. It was like he was indestructible, or something. And, I don't really know how many Erasers will be like this now."

They all sat there gaping at me. Ugh, I hated this. I didn't want to make them so worried.

"So what does this mean? Now what do we have to do?" Nudge asked.

"Well, I'm not quite sure yet. But, I think it would be best if we start to be on the move a lot more. That way, they wouldn't be able to find us so easily." I had no idea where that came from.

They all groaned.

"So I guess we should start packing up and get going soon." I said awkwardly.

"But how are you going to fly? You can't even walk." Angel said looking at me concerned.

"Well, my wings aren't hurt, I don't think. And, I will just have to be more careful now."

I have _no_ idea how _that_ will work out.

"_You don't have to think so hard. Just do it. Be strong."_

I rolled my eyes. 'Yeah, thanks for the pep talk. Why don't you go away now?' I thought.

"Okay, let's get moving." I tried to say with a smiling face.

Everyone got up and packed, while I just sat there. I felt so helpless. I had to get up and go, but honestly, I didn't even know if I could fly yet.

"You ready?" Fang said kneeling beside me, pulling his backpack on. I nodded my head and he held out his hand to help me get up. He pulled me to my feet and made me rap my arm around his neck.

"Gazzy, can you pick up Max's sleeping bag? You can just throw it in her backpack."

Gazzy smiled and nodded. He began to roll it up and stuffed it into my bag. I bent down and grabbed the bag to put it on my shoulders. Fang looked at me and nodded.

"You guys ready?" Everyone came over and stood beside us.

"Okay, let's go."

Gazzy took off first along with Iggy. Nudge followed with Angel behind her. Fang looked at me, "You ready for this?" I didn't really know, but I nodded anyways.

Fang started walking over to the edge of the cliff, with me limping along beside him. I took off my arm off of his shoulder and held his hand, shaking a little; I was so nervous. (I know. Me nervous? Yeah, sounds weird.) I looked over the edge and saw the steep drop of probably 200 feet, give or take. The ground below was all large spiked rocks and dead trees.

Fang looked at me before we took off, "I got you. I won't let you fall and die."

I smiled a little and tried to swallow my fears.

Then we took off. I spread my wings and let the air carry me as I flew. My wings were actually fine. I closed my eyes and let the air sweep across my face, it felt so good to finally be able to move again.

The rest of the flock was there waiting for us grinning. I caught Fang's eye and grinned. He smiled back, but still looked a little uneasy. We caught up with the rest of the kids and started to go.

"Where to?" Iggy yelled.

"Um, how about north." I said, not knowing where that would even lead us to.

Everyone nodded and started to head north.

We flew for a few miles perfectly. The air felt so good whipping past me.

But something started to not feel right. My head slowly started to throb intensely. I cringed a little.

"You okay?" Fang called out to me.

I tried to shake my head yes, but then a siring pain went from my head, down to my legs.

I cried out in pain as I started to descend through the air. I tried to catch myself, but my wings wouldn't work. I held my head in my arms crying in pain as I plummeted straight down toward the sharp rocks.

I closed my eyes and screamed, "What is happening?"

I kept falling with my head held in my arms, and my legs tucked in like a ball.

I couldn't fly, I couldn't think, and I couldn't move.

All I could do was cry and wait for the fall.

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Okay.I'm not quite sure about this one so,tell me what you think! R&R please! 


	6. Future?

**I wrote this chapter quickly after. It's shorter than the others I usually write, but Idon't likeleaving cliffes, as much asHATE reading stories with cliffes! haha. Okay I need to stop rambling!**

**And again, I dont own this stuff, cause of good ole' James P. But the plot is my creation. Mwahaha :) here we go...**

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My whole body was in extreme pain. I felt like I was being electrocuted, over and over again. 

It was so bad, that I didn't even realize that I was suddenly doing upward instead of down. I cracked my eyes open and saw Fang carrying me in his arms. He looked down at me. His dark eyes were filled with sadness and terror.

I started to cry my eyes out. I sobbed into his shirt as he held me tightly. I needed to get better for them. They needed me, but I was useless like this.

"_No. It's just a test."_ The Voice said.

My head started shooting more pain. Then suddenly, images started to flash through my mind. They were all going so fast; I couldn't make them out. 'What is this?' I thought. I started to squeeze Fang's chest. He looked down at me. I tried to tell him what was happening, but I couldn't talk. All of these flashing images kept zooming by.

Finally, they started to slow down a little bit:

_A blinding light shinning at me._

_Viles with liquid dripping down through a tube._

_A cage with dark eyes looking at me blankly._

_Fang running towards me._

_Me flying through the air away from a building._

_Five black figures standing on a cliff looking at me._

Then that was it. "What was this?" I tried to say, still holding my head and squeezing Fang.

Then another flash of a tall brick building with wired fences around it came into my head. The building had words on it: 818 Shrine St. District of Colombia.

Then the pain slowly subsided. Everything still pulsed and throbbed, but there wasn't any electrocuting anymore.

I finally opened my eyes and let go of my head. I was still holding Fang tightly in my arms though.

He landed in a thick forest, filled with tall moss covered trees everywhere. The smell of evergreens filled the air around us.

He then laid me down on a patch thick grass. I moan a thank-you, but I don't think it was very audible. Once my head hit the grass, I was out like a light.

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**Not to bad of a cliffe, more to come though! R&R! Feedback please and thank-you!**

**And thank you guys SOO much for all of the positive reviews you sent. I got a little nervous with that chap for some reason! But thank you guys sooo much!**


	7. The capture

I don't own Maximum Ride, unfortunatly. James P. rocks. :)

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I woke up from my deep sleep and found myself lying on the ground with my sleeping bag on top of me. I rolled onto my back and looked up at the tall trees covering the sky. I slowly sat up and saw everyone sleeping around a small fire that was set up in the middle of the camp. I was starving, and hot dogs were sitting a few feet away from me. So I got on my hands and knees and stood myself up to go and get them. But as I stood up, my head started to spin and I fell down and landed right on my butt. 

I started to get really frustrated. I punched the ground with my fist without even thinking. "Ow. Damn." I guess I had punched the ground harder than I expected.

"Having fun?" A dark figure said as it came towards me. I could tell it was about to laugh.

"Hi." I said in a harsh tone.

"Hi." Fang grabbed the hot dogs and sat down beside me smirking.

"How do you feel?"

"Great." I said sarcastically, grabbing them out of his hand and shoving one in my mouth.

Fang smiled at me, trying not to laugh.

"Shut up."

"You know, after all of this, you should really consider signing up for ballet classes."

I hit Fang, but I couldn't help but smile.

Fang started to look serious again, "What happened yesterday?"

Those words lingered in my head for a while as I tried to remember what did happen yesterday. Then I thought back and remembered falling, and my horrible brain attack. My body started to ache when I thought of it. I took in a deep breathe and blew it out.

"I'm not sure. I was fine flying for a few miles, and then my head started to electrocute me, or something."

"Electrocute you?" Fang looked at me weird.

"Yeah, it was a lot worse then the usual head thing. This was like that times ten, and everything hurt, not just my head."

We both looked at the ground.

"I saw things this time too. They were like these images of things that I had never seen before."

I told him what they were. He held his head in his hand and looked at me.

"I don't where they came from."

The image of the brick building suddenly flashed into my head.

"And there was also this building that I saw that I've never heard of. It's somewhere in DC."

Fang raised his eyebrows and had the look on his face that he has when he's thinking. He always seemed to have a certain look for every little thing he does or feels.

"So, do you think we should go there and check it out?" He said finally.

I thought about it. Part of me didn't want to, but the other part of me was a little curious of what I might find.

"I don't know." I said as I stuffed another hot dog in my mouth.

We both looked at the ground. I started to pull at the grass and Fang was throwing a rock back and forth between his hands.

"Oh, and thanks."

He looked up at me confused.

"For what?"

"For yesterday." I said quietly.

"Well, I told you I wouldn't let you fall and die."

He looked up and smiled brightly. I smiled back, feeling my cheeks get warm.

"But it was sorta hard to catch you since you weight a ton."

I dropped my mouth open. "You jerk." I said hitting his arm and laughing.

"Hey, I'm just kidding. Sorry." He said laughing as he tried to back away from me.

Then all of a sudden he stopped and looked around.

"What's wrong?"

"Shhh, listen." He whispered.

I listened and heard footsteps coming toward us. Fang got up and stood in front of me with his wings pulled out a little. I tried to get up, grabbing Fang's shoulder for support as I stood.

"What is it?" I asked quietly.

"I dunno."

Before I could answer, I felt someone grab my arms from behind me and pull me back.

"Fang!" I screamed.

The kids heard me and scrambled out of their sleeping bags as Erasers started to close in on them.

"What the hell is goin-"

"Shut up." An Eraser voice snapped from behind me. It was painfully holding my two arms back, and I could feel my shoulders start to pop out of place.

"Max!" Fang yelled as Erasers starting to grab him as well.

"Hold on!" He struggled to get away, but they grabbed his arms and held him back too. The Erasers suddenly started to put him into a bag. I saw him try to get out, but I knew he wouldn't.

I looked over at Iggy and Gazzy. They were thrashing around as Erasers started to put them in bags as well. Nudge and Angel were already taken away, but I could here them screaming in the distance.

"NO. WAIT! STO-" I screamed as duck tape was placed over my mouth.

I started to cry in frustration. I was trapped, and so was everyone else. Once again, I had failed to save them.

"_You weren't made to fail Max. There are bigger plans for you. But you have the power to change them."_

I listened to the 'voice' as I was being shoved into a bag. I was in darkness, and there was no way out. Someone then picked me up and threw me into a van. I tried to scream, but my mouth was closed shut with tape. The engine started, and it began to move.

I didn't know where they were taking me. But I had to find my flock. I would not let myself lose them again.

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Not a lot of Fax. Sorry about that. But, I wanted to try to stay true to the characters, well sort of. hehe. R&R PLEASE! feedback is nice:P 


	8. Darkness

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the character, though I wish I did. But James P. does.**

**On with the story!**

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The van drove for what felt like three hours. Then it suddenly stopped and the back door swung open. Someone grabbed me and pulled me over its shoulder. The gash on my stomach throbbed from rubbing against the bag. I kicked my legs as hard as I could, not knowing what I was aiming for. It just laughed and threw me on the ground. It then started to open my bag. I looked up and saw a huge furry face staring back at me. He smiled and pulled me out of the bag by my hair. 

I tried to scream, but the duck tape was still taped over my mouth. I kicked the ugly Eraser as hard as I could, but he just laughed at me again and pushed me into a cage. He reached in and ripped the tape off of my mouth. I gasped for air and then bit his fury fingers. He yelped as I sunk my teeth into his skin. I let go and he quickly pulled back his hand and shut my cage with a bang.

I saw another Eraser coming towards me. He picked up my cage and threw it into a helicopter. My cage landed with a loud thud and I rammed my head against the side.

"Where are you taking me?" I yelled at him.

He smiled and said, "Enjoy the ride."

He slammed the door shut and I was stuck in the darkness again. Tears started to fall from my eyes and onto the floor. I couldn't help it.

"Max?" A tiny voice said from the distance.

I gasped, "Angel? Oh my gosh. Angel where are you?"

"I don't know I can't see." Her little voice sounded fearful.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. But I'm scared Max."

That ripped my heart out. I just wanted to hold her, but there was nothing I could do.

"_Be strong. Figure things out."_ The voice said.

"Angel, did you pick up anything from the Erasers here?"

"Yes, they're taking us away. Somewhere far, but I can't remember where."

"Okay. Do you know where everyone else is?"

"No. There were two bid vans. I couldn't see any-"

"I'm here." Another voice said.

"Iggy?"

"Yeah. What is going on?" He sounded groggy, like he had just woken up.

"I don't know." I tried not to sound so scared. But I was practically trembling with fear.

The choppers started, and then we lifted off the ground and started to move forward.

"Where are we going?" Iggy asked.

"Somewhere in DC." Angel said suddenly.

"How do you know?"

"I just remembered."

'Oh God. I know where we are going.' I thought to myself as I remember the building. _818 Shrine St._

All of a sudden we landed. How could we be here all ready?

The doors flew open and a blinding light poured in on us. Someone threw more cages in. Then the doors shut and we were in darkness once again.

"Nudge, Gazzy, Fang!" Angel screamed.

"Angel! Who else is here? What is happening? Where are we going?" Nudge started rambling off with questions.

"Nudge. No one knows." Fang said in an annoyed tone.

I sighed in relief and started to cry again.

"Who else is here?" Gazzy asked.

"Hi guys. What's up?" Iggy said.

"Ig, where's Max?" Fang said. His voice started to sound shaky.

"I'm here."

"Max!" Nudge said loudly.

I sniffed. "Hi guys. Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah." Everyone said in unison.

"Good."

Suddenly I felt something next to my cage move. I stuck my fingers through the holes of my cage, and found another finger there.

"Who is that?" I whispered.

"Me," Fang said, not moving his fingers away. "What's up?"

"Just hanging out."

I could tell he cracked a little smile.

"Do you have any idea what is going on?"

"No, but Angel said they're taking us to DC."

"Oh." He said in a deep voice. He knew where we were going too.

The helicopter landed and the door swung open again. There was another Eraser there. He reached in and picked up my cage. I started to scream and bang against the sides of the cage.

"NO! MAX!" Fang yelled.

"What is going on?" Iggy cried.

"There taking Max away!" Gazzy screamed at the top of his lungs.

The Eraser had an evil grin on his face. He passed my cage to a different Eraser. Then I was being carried away. I looked back to see more Erasers taking the rest of the flock out of the copter.

I caught Fang's eye and I mouthed 'Watch them'.

I saw him nod a little as I was pulled into some room. They opened my cage and pulled me out by my hair again. I kicked around and almost got away, but they held me down. I started to scream.

Then a whitecoat came out of nowhere and pulled out a huge syringe from behind his back. Before I could go anything, he rammed the needle in my neck. Everything started to get fuzzy. Before I passed out I saw a different whitecoat coming for me with a wheelchair. The face was smiling at me.

"Hi Max."

I moaned as he sat me down in the wheelchair and rolled me away to a different room.

"Max, don't be scared."

I looked up at his face. It was Jeb smiling back at me. I glared at him, and then passed out cold.

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**Mwahahaha! A bit of a short chapter for ya! But it's gonna get crazy!**

**And do not fear my Fax lovers. For I will not forsake from the Fax-ness. It is not over yet, so bare with me. For I am also a Fax lover as well :)**


	9. Tests

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, which sucks, but I did make the plot myself. Mwahaha**

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I woke up on a cold, hard table. I looked to my side and saw an IV tube dripping. 'Oh gosh, no.' I thought. This was it. This was what I saw. I panicked and tried to get out, but nothing moved. 'Oh my gosh, I'm paralyzed!' I thought.

I heard a door open and a white coat walked in.

"I can't move! What did you do to me you freak!"

He didn't look at me. He just walked over to my table and injected something into the IV tube. Everything got fuzzy as I watched him walk over to a cabinet and take out a scalpel. Then I was out again.

A LITTLE WHILE LATER

I woke up again in pain. I looked down and saw that my shirt had been cut open, exposing everything, and there was a huge bandage across my chest. The freaks operated on me! I tried to move around again. I wasn't paralyzed this time, but I was tied down. There was nothing I could do. 'How am I supposed to get out of this one?' I thought with a groan.

Another whitecoat came into the room again. I stayed quiet; I didn't want him to put me to sleep again. He came to my side and took my pulse. He then carefully peeled the gauze off my chest and examined it. I felt so disgusting, I was laying there with my shirt wide open and this idiot was here examining me. He then rolled down my shirt half way, and left the room.

As he walked out we held his hand to his ear and said, "She's awake. She healed fast, as expected. I gave her some potassium nitrate to see if she could handle it. Okay, okay bye." Then he walked out.

'Who the hell is he talking to? And what the hell is potassium nitrate?' I thought. Then a siring pain came over me. It stung my skin and my heart started beating faster than normal. I gritted my teeth and let out a scream.

"What are you doing to me?" I cried as the sting became unbearable.

The whitecoat ran in and change my IV tube again. Immediately the pain subsided. I started to cry again. He looked at me and wrote down on his clip board. Then he turned around and walked away.

"Wait! What am I doing here?" I yelled at him.

"Nothing, just some mandatory tests." He said coldly as he kept walking away.

I sat there shivering, trying to think of what to do. I then remembered the kids. I thought of them sitting alone in the dark, cramped in a cage to small to even breathe in. I suddenly got really angry. I had to find them.

I started to thrash around, not caring about the stinging of the brand new cut on my chest. The belt holding me down became looser. I pulled one arm free and untied the rest of my body. I still had the IV in my arm. 'Crap, this will hurt.' I thought as I pulled it out.

Then the whitecoat came in to check on me. I ran up to him and punched him in the face as hard as I could. I grabbed a hospital robe on the wall and then ran out the door.

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**Do not fret. The next chapter is in the making. Definitely more to come, you can out on that! R&R PLEASE! Faxness will come within next 2 chapters. pinky swear :)**


	10. Reunited?

**I don't own Max Ride. James P is my hero :P

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**

The door led to a long white hallway with different doors on both sides. It gave me the chills. I took a deep breath and started to run again. I scanned each door for a label or a sign, but they were all blank.

"_Stop."_ My 'voice' suddenly said.

I skidded to a halt and looked at the door in front of me. The sign read, 'Lab Rats'. I got a painful chill down my spine again. Without thinking, I slowly put my hand on the icy knob and turned it. The door opened and I stuck my head inside. The room had a strong odor of an animal. The room was pitch black when I first walked in, but then the lights flickered on, revealing a bunch of cages all lined up against a wall. I walked over to them and peered inside. Each one was empty. I started to panic a little, until I heard something breathing heavily to my side. I looked in the cage and saw a little figure rolled up in a tight ball. I tapped it a few times to see what it was. The thing lifted its head and looked at me with large dark eyes. Its face was covered in a light brown fur and had a strong jaw line.

It looked at me hard for a few seconds and then led out a low growl. It opened its mouth and revealed its jagged little teeth. It looked like a mini lion to me. I backed away slowly, but I couldn't stop staring at the thing. It was like I was in a trance.

It pounced up and started to bang itself on the door of the cage. I jumped back and banged into another cage. It had another mini lion-thing in it too. They both were screaming in rage at me.

'What are these things?' I thought to myself. They were starting to really freak me out.

"Max!" A voice in a cage on the other side of the room called.

I ran to it and saw Gazzy's little face looking up at me. His arms and legs were all bruised, and his left forearm displayed a deep cut. I looked at him with wide eyes and tried to open his cage with trembling hands. Once I opened it he jumped out and clung to my waist. I took him off of me and bent down in front of him holding his shoulders.

"Gazzy, what happened? Where is everyone?"

The little boy started to cry.

"Th-they took me and st-stuck me here wi-with these things. They separated us, b-but I th-think I know where they are." He stuttered.

I kissed his cheek and put my hands on both sides of his face.

"Gazzy, I'm sorry. I won't let them take you again. I promise."

He nodded and took my hand. As I stood up, I felt anger start to boil inside of me. I had to find the rest of the kids. I hated the whitcoats more than ever before now. I couldn't let them hurt us anymore.

I led Gazzy out of the room, trying to ignore the screaming lion-things as we walked by. I took a deep breath and walked out the door.

He looked up at me and said, "Come on, I know where to go."

Still holding my hand, he led me down the hallway toward another door. It wasn't labeled, but it had a little window on the top. I looked in and saw more cages lined up against a white wall.

He opened the door and walked in. I followed him towards a cage and watched him open it.

"Gazzy! Max!"

Nudge jumped out and ran towards me and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back, but I kept my eyes on Gazzy as he walked to another cage and opened it. Iggy got out and stretched. His face bruised face seemed tired and worn out. His sightless eyes looked toward me and his expression brightened.

"Hi Max." He said with a small grin.

I walked over to him and hugged him. A flood of guilt took over me. I hated myself for letting this happen to them.

"_You had no way of stopping it. But you now have the power to prevent it from happening again. Follow your instincts."_

I thought about what the Voice said for a few seconds. It actually gave me a good pep-talk this time.

"Come one, we have to find Angel and Fang." Nudge said, sounding determined.

We walked out into the hallway with Gazzy leading the way again. He led us down the hallway for a while, but then he stopped short in front of another blank door. He opened it and ran in.

"Gazzy!" Angel yelled from a small cage happily. Gazzy started to smile as he quickly opened it. He grabbed his sister and hugged her. Then she ran over and hugged each of us.

Suddenly her face changed from happy to serious. "They took Fang away."

I gaped at her a little. I started to get nervous. 'They could've killed him by now.' I thought. Then I stopped myself. This was not the time to think like that.

"Where did they take him." I asked Angel, hoping she had read the whitecoat's thoughts.

"I think they took him to a room called 'The arena'."

"Come on." I said firmly as I walked out the door.

I had no idea where I was going, or where to look. We walked for a while until Iggy stopped and froze.

"Listen." He whispered

Everyone grew silent. I tilted my head to the side to listen closely, but I couldn't hear anything.

"What is it? I can't hear any-"

I then heard it. There was a faint rumbling sound in the distance. I took off running towards the noise. I looked back and saw everyone was running behind me.

The rumbling grew louder as we ran down the long hallway. Then the rumbling was also joined my the sound of people shouting.

"What is that?" Nudge yelled.

I had no idea, but I had a bad feeling about it.

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**It may be a little confusing, sorry, but hopefully it will make more sense by the end.**

**PLEASE R&R!**


	11. Skidding Sneakers

**Hello everyone. And thank you so much for reviewing! You're so great!**

**Any who, I'd just like to say that I sadly don't own Max Ride. James Patterson gets the credit!

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**

As we kept running, the noise grew even louder than before. The faint shouting now turned into audible words.

"Get him!"

"Go!"

"You idiot, move!"

I started to walk slower as we came closer to a corner of the hallway. My stomach was doing somersaults and my heart started pounding. I felt like something bad might happen.

Suddenly, the sound of skidding sneakers came out of nowhere. Then someone came running around the corner and sprinted towards us. It had dirt covered pants, and its shirt was almost ripped off of its body. My stomach dropped.

"Fang?"

He looked at me. Everything on him was scratched and dirty, and there was a gapping wound across his forehead. He ran to us and grabbed my hand.

"Let's go!" He yelled.

I didn't know what was going on, but I was too shocked to say anything. I couldn't help but look at him as we ran. His body looked so damaged, but he still kept on running strong. I looked down at our hands. His bloody fingers were still rapped around mine, and he didn't let go.

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**Hi again. I know it's ultra mega short, but the next part of it is under construction.**

**But, PLEASE R&R!**


	12. Fang?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. James Patterson is the master.

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**

"In here!"

I looked up startled and realized that I was being pulled into a dark room. Angel flipped the light switch and locked the door. We were all standing in a small utility closet, filled with brooms and cleaning supplies. Everyone, including me, collapsed onto the floor. Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel actually all passed out from exhaustion. Iggy was leaning over Fang with his hands on Fang's hip.

"Ow."

I turned around and saw Iggy rolling up Fang's pant leg. His leg was all purple, and his kneecap was grossly placed off to the side. Iggy then touched it softly.

"This is gonna hurt, so don't kill me." Iggy said as he laid his hands on Fangs kneecap.

I moved over to Fang's side and took his hand.

"On the count of three, one… two….three"

Fang gritted his teeth and swore as Iggy popped it into place. He groaned and closed his eyes.

"We have to get you cleaned up." I said out loud as I looked around for something to wipe him down with.

I picked up a few cloths from a shelf and started to wipe the blood off his cheek and eyebrow. He gasped and grabbed my arm.

"Um, ow. Stop." He was breathing heavily. He seemed like he was in pain, but it kind of looked like he was enjoying it to. That really weirded me out.

"What happened to you?" I said to him softly. I tried to then clean off the little scrapes on his arm.

He looked down at his ripped shirt and sighed.

"Well, me and Angel were together most of the time in that room. But then they came and took me out, and dragged me down to this place that was outside. It was like this big circle with dirt all over. All of these whitecoats came out and stood around on the sides with nets."

He paused and took in a deep breathe and leaned his head back against the wall. Iggy and I just stared at him. My head started pounding, but I ignored it. Fang was more important right now.

"And then they opened this door on the wall. I waited there for a while, but nothing happened, so I turned to walk away. But then out of nowhere, these little freak things started pouncing on me. There were a lot to, like hundreds. And_ I_ had to fight them. I was there for like a half an hour, but they kept on coming for me. I finally saw a way to get out and I bolted for it."

My mouth dropped. Fang had to fight those lion things, and the whitecoats sat there and cheered them on. I clenched my fists and I felt my cheeks get all red. I felt horrible, because I new that some of it was my fault. If _I_ had been more careful with Ari at the beach, then we could have left the cave earlier. If _I_ hadn't had that brain attack, we wouldn't have had to stop in that forest. And if_ I_ hadn't been talking to Fang and complaining about everything, we would've been ready to fight those Erasers, _and_ we could've gotten away. I was practically responsible for everything!

"Max, what's wrong?" Iggy asked. It's weird how he can tell how a person is feeling, without being able to see their face.

"Nothing, just thinking about stuff."

"It's not your fault Max." Fang chimed in.

I looked at them both and forced a half smile. I almost started to tear up again, but I hated crying, and I've been crying way too much already. I just avoided it and started to clean Fang's arm again. He stared at me and gave me a weird look that I didn't know the meaning of.

"What happened to your arm?"

I looked at Fang and then down at my arm. It was all purple and blue. I touched it lightly.

"Oh, it's from me pulling out my stupid IV."

"IV?" Iggy said while he was cleaning his own cut on his leg.

"Yeah, the whitecoats ran some stupid 'tests' on me I guess."

"Does that explain the robe?" Fang was staring my dirty gray hospital gown.

"Oh, yeah. They cut me open and I didn't really have any shirt, so I took this when I ran out."

"They cut you open?" Fang and Iggy both looked at me with their eyebrows raised.

"Yep." I said with a sigh.

Fang leaned back against the wall. Iggy dropped his head.

"Guys, it's fine. I'm fine."

"It looks nice on you." Fang randomly said.

I spun around to him and stared him in the eye, "What?"

"Nothing." He blushed.

This was awkward. "Um, I think we should get you a new shirt."

"I think there's something on the top shelf."

I looked down at Iggy, and then on the top shelf. Sure enough, there were robes there. I reached up and got one.

"You know, you're really starting to freak me out. How did you know that?"

Iggy just shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I can just _sense_ things."

He was looking at Fang oddly.

"That's weird." I said as I turned to Fang.

"You get to wear a pretty robe now too."

Fang just looked at me blankly and reached out to take it. I pulled it back.

"Do you think you can do it yourself?"

He glared at me. "Yes."

He grabbed it and started taking off his already ripped up shirt. I turned around and watched Iggy dab the cut on his leg with a cloth. 'Something is wrong with Fang' Iggy mouthed. I looked at him curiously. Then I heard a grunt come from Fang.

"How is it going?"

"Fine." He sounded annoyed.

I turned back to Iggy and mouthed 'What?'

"Done." Fang said loudly.

"Nice. It's definitely your color." I smirked.

He glared at me a turned his head. I looked at his forehead, which now only looked like a scratch. Then a huge scar on the side of his head caught my eye. I hadn't seen that on Fang before, but it did look oddly familiar.

"Fang, what's that?" I pointed to his head.

"Um, nothing, I just got hit with a rock" He said as he shifted his weight.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Um, Iggy wake up the others." I said calmly.

Fang grabbed my arm and squeezed it hard. "No Max. Let them sleep, they've had a rough day."

I tried to shake his hand off of me. Angel then suddenly popped up and gasped.

"Go you guys. MOVE!" I yelled to them. Everyone jumped up and ran. Angel stopped at the doorway and froze.

"Angel, go." She nodded and turned to run.

I whipped my head around to Fang.

"Who the hell are you?"

Fang looked at me and frowned.

"Oh, Maximum. You know me."

"You're not Fang you freak! Who the hell are you?" I was screaming now.

'Fang' grinned evilly. Then the skin on him started to disappear and turn into fur. I watched it with my eyes wide with horror.

"Hi Max."

I opened my mouth, but I couldn't say anything. I could hardly breathe. It was ARI.

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**Dun dun dun. Phewf, that's hard core stuff to write.**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**

PS: Kaori110- How did you know? hehe weird!


	13. Weak

**I don't own Maximum Ride. James is the man.

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**

"What?"

My throat felt tight and my head pounded. A thousand questions were weaving there way through my mind as I tried to make sense of what I had just seen.

"Nice huh. I didn't think you were smart enough to figure me out though."

His grip on my arm tightened. Just then, all of my thoughts dwindled down to one question.

"Wh-where's Fang?" I said firmly.

Air just sat there grinning at me, and he gripped my arm even tighter. I could feel his nails start to dig into my skin. I looked at it and saw a single drop of blood roll down my arm. I could then feel the pent up anger and rage come over me.

"WHERE THE HELL IS FANG!" I screamed at the top of my lungs (Which is very loud).

Ari let go of my arm and covered his ears. I then got up and bolted out the door. My legs felt wobbly and my arms were shaking as I ran for my life.

"Maximum wait up!" Ari called from behind me.

I looked over my shoulder and saw him catching up to me. I looked forward and realized that there was a wall in front of me. A dead end! I skidded to a halt and franticly looked around for another way out, but there was none.

"You can't run from me forever Max."

With that, he grabbing my shoulder and spun me around. He then grabbed my neck and lifted me up. 'Crap' was all I could think.

"So Max, how does it feel being the chosen one now?" He smiled, showing me his ugly yellow teeth.

I could feel my face get redder and my head start to pulse. I tried to think of something to do, but my brain was fried from the lack of oxygen I was getting. Then I started kicking, and I was able to hit him in the 'bad place' again. He yelped and let go. I fell to the ground gasping for air. My head throbbed from the rush of blood traveling to my head. I looked up and found a fist coming at me.

I tried to duck, but I was too late. His fist rammed me in the eye. I fell backward and hit the wall with my head.

"You're not strong enough Max." He said as he kicked my in the chest.

The wind got knocked out of me and I leaned forward clutching my stomach. I dropped to my knees, trying to open my airways to breathe. My body felt so heavy to me. I couldn't even lift my head up.

"You're too weak to handle me now."

I hated that word, 'weak', and I hated it even more coming from his disgusting mouth. I couldn't let myself give up now. I thought of the flock. I wouldn't let myself fail them again. I thought of Fang, and if he was even still alive. Then something in me snapped.

I suddenly jumped up and kicked Ari in the face. He stumbled back and looked at me shocked. The expression on his face was priceless. Before Ari could react, I kicked him in the stomach. He kneeled forward, gasping for air. Then I put my hands on his shoulders and quickly pulled my knee up and rammed it into his face. I heard a satisfying crack as he fell to the ground.

"Thanks for the moves." I smirked and sprinted past him.

I ran like the wind, looking for the arena room where Fang might be. For some reason, I felt like there was hope that I might find him there. The corner where 'Fang/Ari' first appeared from started to come into view. I could hear someone yelling in the distance.

I tried to run faster now, praying to God that Fang was okay.

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**REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!**

**Max power! I love her! **

**Oh, and there isn't a Fang #2. This is one of Ari's 'new features'.**


	14. The Arena

**I don't own Maximum Ride. I whish I didn't because she is amazing. James P is cool :P

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**

I rounded the corner and saw the double doors that led to the arena. I took a deep breath and slowly walked towards them, trying to think optimistically. As I pushed them open, the blinding light from the sun poured over me and stung my eyes. It felt like I haven't seen the outside world in over a year.

I stepped out onto the dusty, dirt covered field and squinted to look around. The field seemed deserted, and it looked like a big dirt hole. There were high walls that ran around the sides, and the top was enclosed by wire fences. It wasn't really what I had expected 'The Arena' to look like, but then again, it's not like it's the first time that I've been surprise here.

Suddenly a figure in the middle of the field came into view. It was Fang! I felt a wave of relief crash onto me. But before I could really enjoy that feeling, he staggered and looked up at me with pain written all over his face.

He was a mess. His shirt was half ripped off of him, and his black pants were torn and covered with blood. I could see there were cuts and bite marks on him from where I was standing, and that was pretty far away. He then fell to his knees with his hands on his thighs. He was breathing really heavily, and he looked like he was going to be sick. I gasped and ran to him.

"Fang." I whispered. He looked up at me and winced.

I kneeled down in front of him and brushed his dirt covered hair away from his face. There was a big bruise starting to form under his right eye, and his cheeks had tiny little scrapes on them.

"I'm so sorry."

I apologized over and over again until he held his hand up to stop me. He then turned his head and spit out blood.

"Stop." He said hoarsely.

I wanted to hug him then, but I looked at his chest and saw bite marks all over. He winced and held his stomach.

"What is it?" I asked as I pulled back his arm and saw a hideous purple and blue bruise that ran from side to side on his stomach. I sucked in my breath and made a hissing sound.

"What happened?" I said, still staring at the bruise.

He looked over my shoulder and gestured towards something. I turned around and saw about 100 of those lion-mutant-things, all lying on the ground dead.

"Did you?" I said as I scanned my eyes along the field. The things were everywhere.

"Yeah, they die pretty easily though. There was just a lot of 'em." He said calmly.

I slowly turned back around and sighed.

"Were there whitecoats here?" I asked, staring at his face.

He seemed even paler now than he did before. I moved my eyes downward towards his pants. The damage wasn't too bad, just that bruise was looked horrible.

"Yeah, but they just left." He laid back and put his hands on his chest.

"You're bleeding."

He lifted up his hands and saw the blood. Then he quickly wiped them on his pants and groaned.

"It's not that bad." I said with a little smile.

Fang just looked at me blankly, and then up at the hazy, wire covered sky.

"What's with the robe?" A little smirk swept across his face, but then quickly vanished.

"Oh, um, tests." I said quietly. For some reason, I felt ashamed telling Fang this.

He glared at the sky. "What kinds of tests?"

"I don't know, but they cut me open though." I said as I pulled down the top of my robe a tiny bit, exposing only the top of the scar.

He looked at it and stared at me hard in the eye, like he was trying to figure something out.

"What else happened?" He sounded like he knew I was keeping something from him, and I definitely was.

I opened my mouth, but then shut it.

"I'll tell you later, but we need to get doing."

"Where are the kids?" He asked as he struggled to sit up.

"I told them to run. Ari was there, and he…well, we have to find them."

Fang looked at me confused, but then he nodded and he sat up. I took his arm and pulled hard to help him stand. He swayed a little, but then tensed up and stood straight.

"Okay, let's go." He winced a little and started walking.

I walked closely beside him, just to be safe incase he falls or something. I stared at Fang's face as he moved. He looked okay, but I could tell he was still in major pain.

I pushed open the doors and we walked to the corner of the hallway.

"You okay?" I asked, still staring at his face.

"Yeah, and stop looking at me like that. I'm fine."

"Like what?"

Before he could answer, we both heard footsteps running down the hall toward us. I moved forward and Fang followed behind me. The he stumbled a bit and swore under his breath.

"We need to go." He said frustrated.

I scanned the halls and looked for the door that led to the closet the kids and I were previously in. I located it among the other white doors; it had a little smudge of blood on the bottom right corner. I then turned around to Fang, he was hunched over and holding his stomach. Once he saw me looking at him, he straightened and masked his pained face with a tough look.

"You're not fine Fang."

I gave him the 'you can't lie to me so don't even try' look. He saw it and looked away.

"Come on." I pulled his arm over my shoulder and grabbed his waist.

He grunted and opened his mouth to object.

"Shut up and move."

He glared at me, but then gave in and leaned on me a little for support.

"You're so stubborn." I whispered.

"Back 'atcha" He said with a little smirk on his face.

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**Okay, so that's that. It would be amazing to hit 80 reviews guys. I'm not trying to be mean, because that's only 7 more! So PLEASE REVIEW!**

**:D**

**But anyways, there's more to come…**


	15. New Orders

**I don't own Maximum Ride. James Patterson is the best. Yay, now on we go….

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**

"Where are they?" Jeb screamed.

The other 'whitecoats' looked around at each other.

"How could they have escaped? I thought you guys secured the rooms."

One whitecoat bravely looked up, "We did Jeb. Max got out of the operating room by punching Bob out cold."

A little smile swept across Jeb's face. He liked the fact that Max was so strong. He was proud of his little girl, his creation.

Just then, another whitecoat ran into the room panting.

"What is it Sally?" Jeb said concerned.

Sally was one of the more respected scientists amongst School. She had found many new advances in the scientific field.

"Fang's gone. He got out. All of the Minions are spread around the field dead."

(A/n: Minions are mini-lions mashed up in one word. I know it's weird, but hey, I guess it works :P)

All of the whitecoats looked at her in shock. The Minions are supposed be very dangerous. That's what Jeb had created them for. He had made them to join the Erasers in wiping out the flock. They had left them in the arena with Fang, and the goal was to get rid of him. Fang was just a distraction to Max, and she didn't need anymore distractions. She was supposed to save the world.

Ari had been injected with a powerful enhancing serum a week ago. This was to create Ari's ability to take the form of another person's body. He was to then replace Fang, and go off with the rest of the flock. In the place of Fang, Ari was to try to lead them to more dangerous situations. The ultimate goal was to get rid of all of the kids except Max.

"How can this happen? What did Ari do wrong?" Jeb said furiously.

"We found Ari at the end of the hallway. He was lying on the ground unconscious. We ran him to the recovery room and quickly revived him. He then told us that Max had figured him out."

Whispers filled the room as Jeb stood there gaping at her. He was trying to figure out what had gone wrong with his brilliant plan. Then a light bulb went on in his head.

"Send Ari up here please. I have a new order for him."

:

We walked quickly down the hall towards the closet. The footsteps we had heard died down, and eventually stopped.

Fang still was holding onto me. I think he was giving up the tough guy act a little bit, and it was about time too. We eventually got to the door and I pulled it open. Fang walked in first and turned on the flickering light. I stepped in and peeked out the door to look down the hall again. It thankfully looked clear, so I closed it and turned the lock.

Fang was sitting down against the wall. He was holding a rag and dabbing the bloody cut on his chest. I grabbed a robe from the top self and sat down opposite him.

"Does it hurt?" I asked as I saw him wince every time he touched it.

"Sorta, it's not bad though."

"Do you want a new shirt?"

He looked up at the robe that I was holding in front of him. He nodded slightly and grabbed it.

"Do you wanna tell me what else happened now?" He said as he carefully lifted off his old shirt.

I looked down at my lap.

"Okay."

I told him the whole story about finding everyone, plus Ari. Fang stared at me with wide eyes. I don't think I've ever seen then that wide.

"Wow."

That was all he said.

"Wow? Fang this is crazy! What is going on at this place?"

I realized that I was yelling at him.

"Sorry." I said quietly.

He just starred at me blankly.

"Well, I don't know what's going on. But, we have to find everybody first."

"Yeah, but I'm a little, I don't know, scared I guess."

I was embarrassed to reveal my feelings to him. But he surprised me and nodded. There was an awkward silence for a while. Then I looked at his stomach again and saw that he was bleeding, again.

"You're bleeding." I smirked.

Fang groaned and started dabbing his chest again.

"Don't do that. That makes it hurt more."

I moved over to him and took the rag from his hand. Then I carefully laid the rag on top of the cut and pressed down a little. He groaned again.

"Oh yeah, and that makes it feel so much better." He said sarcastically.

"Oh shut up." I laughed.

He grabbed my hand and moved it away.

"Thanks, _Mom_." He said in a funny voice.

I glared at him. "Be quiet."

He flashed a nice smile, and laughed a little. It was kind of weird seeing Fang smile and laugh like that, but it was a little comforting too. '_Whoa, let's not go overboard there Max_." I told to myself.

"**_Max, there are plans being made. You need to get ready and go."_**

"_Go where? What plans?"_

Of course, the Voice didn't answer back. What's the point of having a voice, if it doesn't answer your questions?

"My voice says we have to go?"

Fang raised his eyebrows. "Where to?"

"Um, I don't know, but I'll think of something."

Yeah, that was very leader-like of me. Not know where the heck to go. I stood up and brushed myself off. Fang got on his robe and slowly tried to get up.

"That's a nice color on you." I said as I smiled pretty. He just glared at me.

Then suddenly there was a loud bang on the door. The handle started to jiggle, and it sounded like someone was throwing themselves against it. I looked up at Fang. He looked back at me and nodded. I grabbed his arm and held it tightly.

"Hang on." He whispered.

Then the door suddenly swung open.

"Hello you two."

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**Mwahahaha! I will try my hardest to get the next chapter up soon, but I'm sorry if it's late!**

**Now REVIEW! Just push the blue button and you know what to do!**


	16. Things to discuss

**I do not own Max Ride. James Patterson is cool.**

**And I'm really very sorry about the LONG delay. I was away on vacation, and the computer wouldn't let me on this site! Ugh. But here we go…**

Jeb stood there at the doorway facing us. He looked sweaty and tired, like he had just ran ten miles, and his red tie hung loosely around his neck.

"What are you doing in here?"

I didn't say anything. I was still a little shaken up by everything, and I wasn't sure that I could even talk if I wanted to.

"How did you get out?" Jeb said while looking at Fang.

I stood there silent. I tried to carefully scan the hallway behind him. I needed to find a quick getaway, just in case something happened.

Then, something on Jeb's shirt caught my eye. There was a cluster of red dots on his right shoulder. It looked a lot like blood.

"Are you two going to talk, or not?" Jeb suddenly said loudly. I jumped a little and looked at him curiously.

"How'd you get blood in your shirt?"

Jeb turned and starred at me for a few minutes. He looked as if he was trying to read my mind. Fang's arm tensed a little under my grip. I realized that I was now digging my nails into his skin. I let go and crossed my arms.

"You two come with me." His cheeks turned to a dark shade of red.

Fang and I didn't move. I was never in a billion years going to anywhere with this guy, and I knew Fang felt the same way.

"Don't worry; the rest of the flock is there."

"What did you do to them?" Fang said in a low voice.

"Nothing, I'm taking you do them. We have things to do, so come with me."

"What kind of things?" I still didn't move. I wanted to know what these 'things' were. There has been a lot of 'things' happening around here already.

"Listen, if you two don't come with me, than you'll never find out, and you won't get them back. I need you kids. You all are very important right now."

I looked up at Fang. He was starring hard at Jeb. He was trying to figure out what we should do. But I knew we needed to go with him, even if I hated the idea of it.

I took a little step forward.

"Fine, you lead the way. And the kids better be there or…"

"They will be Max. No worries."

With that, he turned his heel and started to walk away. I took Fang's arm and swung it over my shoulder. He groaned and pulled it back. He shot me the 'I'm fine' look and started to limp towards Jeb. I rolled my eyes and walked behind him. All of this was getting a little weird.

**Okay. So, sorry about this chapter, I don't like it very much. But there will be more to come.**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	17. The picture

**I do not own Max Ride, sadly. James Patterson gets all of the credit.**

We continued to follow Jeb down the sterile white hallway. My mind was overflowing with questions:

_Where is this room?_

_What is there to discuss?_

_Why is the flock so important to Jeb?_

_How did he find us, again?_

_Why is he doing this?_

The list went on and on. I felt someone tug on my arm a little. I jumped and floated back to reality. Fang was pulling me along next to him around a corner. I looked up at his hard face. He was starring forward at Jeb with his jaw clenched. He had a weird look on his face, and for once, I couldn't quite tell what that look was.

Jeb silently led us through a large white door that led us to another hallway. The new hallway was just like the other. Blank with white doors all lined up on the sides. This place was getting creepier by the minute.

My head started pounding again. I breathed in deeply to try and relax my mind, but it only got worse. I couldn't let myself have another brain attack, especially now. I put my hand on my forehead and rubbed it. I realized that was drenched with sweat now. I felt my cheeks get all flushed, and my head start to spin a little.

I guess Fangs had noticed me because he was holding my arm again. I could feel his gaze on me. His eyes felt like laser beams on me, burning my skin.

Suddenly, Jeb stopped in front of a door and pulled a key out of his pocket. He put the key inside of the knob and unlocked it. He then turned around to face us.

"Here we are. The kids are inside, you can go on in." He said calmly. Then he looked at me, "Max, are you okay sweetie?" He reached out his and to touch my face, but I backed away.

"I'm fine." I grunted.

Fang started to walk into the room, pulling me along with him. The room was a peach color, much different than all of the other rooms in this place. A large desk with stacks of paper stood in the corner of the room, and there was a white door on the wall next to it. Other than that, the room was pretty bare. No sign of the kids.

"Where are they?" I could hear Fang ask Jeb behind me.

Jeb then pressed a button on the wall, and the door on the other side of the room swung open. The kids were all standing there shivering. I ran to them and hugged them all. They were all wearing hospital robes like mine and they were freezing.

"What happened to you guys?" I asked.

They didn't move. They were just standing there looking at me. I wiped to face Jeb.

"What did you do you freak! What do you want from us!" I screamed in his face.

Jeb stood there and looked at me sadly.

"I'm sorry Max."

He then walked out of the room and gently closed the door behind him. I heard the locks on the door switch and his footsteps walking away down the hall. My head started to pound even harder now. I dropped to my knees and started crying.

'What is happening?' I asked myself.

'**_Talk to your flock Max. They need you now more than ever. You need to figure things out.'_**

"How?" I asked out loud. But of course, the Voice didn't answer me back.

"Max?" I heard Angel say from behind me.

I turned around and saw her standing there crying. My heart broke as I walked over and bent down in front of her. She wrapped her arms around me and buried her head into my shoulder.

Nudge and Gazzy walked over and wrapped themselves around me as well. Iggy bent down next to me, looking blankly ahead of him. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. His face brightened.

We sat there for a while and held each other. I didn't want to ever let go of them. When they were gone, I felt like I had lost everything. But now that I had them back, I felt a little more whole again. I tried to soak up this feeling as much as I could, because I knew that this feeling might not stay forever.

"Max, come here." Fang said in a serious tone. He was standing over the desk, looking through the papers.

I got up with the rest of the kids and walked over.

"Look." He said, pointing down at a piece of paper.

I looked down at it and my stomach flipped. That happy feeling I had was now completely gone.

"Oh my gosh," I said, trying to comprehend what I was seeing.

"Where are we?"

**Gasp. Mwahaha! Okay, well hit the blue button and REVIEW PLEASE!**


	18. In the darkness

**Sadly I don't own Maximum Ride. James P is the man.**

We all were gaping at the piece of paper that sat there on the desk. Gazzy and Nudge walked away with wide eyes. They probably couldn't bare the sight of it. Angel was holding my waist with her face buried in my stomach. Iggy was standing to the right of me looking confused. He didn't say anything though; he just walked away towards Gazzy and Nudge.

This was the most gruesome thing I think I had ever seen. It was a disgusting picture with Erasers standing over a pile of bodies. The bodies looked like deformed kids, with wings. None of the faces were visible, but the wings were clearly there. I looked up at Fang who stood there blankly looking down at it.

I flipped it over. There was writing on the bottom right corner. 'Eraser Experiment 506'. I pried Angel off of my waist and bent down in front of her.

"Why don't you go over to Gazzy and Nudge. I'll be there in a sec."

She nodded and ran over and attacked Gazzy with a monster hug.

"Fang, what is this?" I whispered to him.

He looked at me and shrugged.

"I don't know, but we gotta get outta here."

I nodded and turned over to everyone. They looked pretty shaken up. I really wanted to ask, 'What the hell happened to you?', but I didn't really feel like it was the right time for that.

"Hey guys, you alright?" I asked nervously. They all nodded there head yes.

"What was in that room you were just in?"

"I don't know, it was pitch black in there." Nudge sighed.

I looked back at Fang, who nodded and walked over to the button Jeb had pressed earlier. He hesitated a little, but then pushed it. The door swung open with a bang. Fang then proceeded on walking into the dark room.

"Wait!" I called after him.

Everyone followed me towards the doorway and looked in. There was little light, but there was enough to make out the odd shapes of the objects inside.

Suddenly there was a little bang that came from the inside.

"Fang!" I ran into the room and found Fang brushing himself off.

"Stupid file." He muttered under his breath as he kicked the object lying on the floor. I smiled.

"Anything in here?"

"No, just a bunch of folders."

I sighed.

"There's got to be something here."

'**_Close the door Max.'_** The Voice said, loudly.

'What? We would be able to see anything!' I thought.

'_**Close the door Max. Or you will be in trouble, like you always are.'**_

'Shut up.' I was losing my patience with this thing.

"Nudge close the door."

"Why?" Nudge looked at me confused.

"I don't know. I just have a feeling."

Nudge nodded and closed the door. We were all now standing in pitch black.

"Max?" Angel called out to me.

"I'm right here, don't worry."

I tried looking for a way out. This place was filled with files and old papers. I felt around for anything that might help us out in getting out. 'What am I doing? There's nothing here.' I thought to myself, hoping that the Voice had something to say. But nothing came.

I brushed up against something and jumped a mile. A hand grabbed my arm and pulled me.

"Who is that?"

"It's me. Shut up."

I let out a sigh of relief. It was getting annoying when Fang scares me like that.

"Come here." He said pulling me along with him.

"What is it?"

Then a sudden feeling of panic rushed over me.

"Fang!" I screamed.

The arm pulling me let go.

"Max? What's wrong?" Someone said coming up behind me.

My head started pounding.

"We have to get out. Go!"

I pushed him and started running towards where the door was.

" Iggy? Gaz? Nudge? Angel?" I yelled.

"Yeah." They all called up.

"Let's go."

"Found it!" Fang called a few feet away.

He pushed the door open and we all ran out.

"What was wrong?" Fang asked.

I didn't say anything. I didn't know what was wrong. The hand pulling me, that wasn't Fang. It didn't feel like Fang.

"Nothing." I said weakly, "Let's go."

I went to the main door that led to the hallway and reached out to open it. Before I touched the handle, the door pushed open and twenty Erasers stood there staring at me.

**How did you like it? Feedback! REVIEW PLEASE! thank-you :)**


	19. Useful

**I don't own Max Ride. Jams Patterson is the master :P**

Once I saw the Erasers I quickly shut the door and locked it. 'What am I going to do now.' I thought to myself in panic.

"We need to find a way out!" I yelled.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Nudge looked at me fearfully.

"I don't know! But these Erasers are different! We can't fight them!" I screamed.

My head was pounding and I was drenched with sweat.

"_**Think Max."**_

"How? There's no way out!"

"_**You're not alone in this. There are people right in front of you. Use them."**_

I was so confused. But then suddenly something clicked.

"Angel, can you go to the door of the closet and listen into it."

"For what?" She looked at me confused.

"For anything! See if you can hear anything."

The little girl nodded and ran to the door. She pressed her ears up to it and closed her eyes.

"Nudge, go touch that keypad over there. Try and find any info that might be useful."

"Gazz, Iggy, and Fang, go over to the desk and look through the papers. See if you can find a map or something."

"But, in case you forgot, I can't see!"

"Yeah, but your senses are amazing. You can help them. Hurry."

Everyone nodded and left me standing there. I tried to think of something I could do. But what was there?

"Max!" Angel screamed and she backed away from the door.

Every stopped what they were doing and looked up.

"There's someone in there!"

Just as she said that, the closet door swung open.

**The line spacer has an error when I click it, so sorry if these spaces get confusing! yay, another crazy chapter. phewf! please give me some feedback! review!**


	20. Explanation

**I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson is cool. La la la!**

The door swung open, and out walked Jeb.

"Jeb?"

He looked at me and cracked a half smile.

"What are you doing here? How…"

Before I could finish my sentence, Ari appeared next to Jeb.

"What is going on?" I yelled at Jeb.

"Max, I told you, we need you."

"For what? To test me?"

"This has all been a test Max."

"What are you talking about?"

My head was spinning. I silently prayed that my Voice would speak up. Thankfully it did.

'**_You have the power Max.'_**

'_What power?'_ But nothing answered me back.

"Max, you need to understand. You were made for a reason. You are the key to changing everything." Jeb said, throwing me back to reality.

"Everything meaning what?" I yelled at him.

"The world Max," He raised his eyebrows in excitement, "How the world works. You were made for a destiny like no other. This is why you need to come with us. I will help guide you to your destiny."

Ari glared at Jeb from behind. He looked as if he was wanted to hurt him.

"So that's what all of this is about, 'my destiny.' You almost kill me and the flock!"

"But it was the only way Max."

"So you threw us into cages, operated on me, and sent Ari to try and kill me_ twice_."

"No, the first time was all me." Ari said with an evil grin.

"And you, you changed bodies?"

"Yes, he was to replace Fang and go off with you. His goal was to catch you and bring you back here for good."

Jeb's explanation was too much for me to handle. My brain was pounding again.

"So you were trying to kill me?" Fang asked harshly out of nowhere.

Jeb turned and looked at Fang with sincerity in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Fang. But we didn't want any distractions."

"A distraction to me? If it wasn't for Fang I would have been dead!" I was fuming now. I wanted to snap Jeb's neck and kill him right there. But I still wanted to know one more thing.

"Why?" I asked.

"To capture you Max."

"So you were going to _kill_ the flock for me?"

Jeb didn't say anything to that. But that was enough for me. Without even thinking, I lunged myself at him and attacked him with a powerful kick to his stomach. I her a few cracks and smiled as he fell to the floor. Then suddenly Ari jumped on me. He looked like he was ready to kill. He started throw punches and clawing at my arm. I was able to dodge a few throws, but Ari caught me right in the jaw. He then swiped me across my back, leaving me in horrible pain. I could already feel my back start bleeding as I fell to the floor.

"No!" Fang screamed and kicked Ari's side.

Ari toppled over and gasped for air. He got up to go for me again, when suddenly he stood straight up and froze. Fang and I glanced at each other. Then I saw Angel standing a few feet away. Her eyes were wide and locked on Ari.

"Angel what are you doing?" I asked her.

Angel smiled, "Stopping him."

I smiled weakly, "Well keep it…"

"Max!" Jeb stood up with his arms holding his stomach.

"If you don't cooperate, I'll have to force you."

"Good luck with that." I said, rolling my eyes.

Then Jeb reached into his pocket, and pulled out a button. When hepressed it, the front door swung open and all twenty improved Erasers came walking in to the room towards me.

**Sorry it's a weird end. But more is to come soon. If you're still confussed after reading this, you can tell me! I might have not cleared it all up yet. blah. so PLEASE REVIEW!**


	21. Decision

**I don't own Max Ride. I know, it's sad. But Mr. Patterson is a good guy, he'll take good care of them :P**

"Max, Fang!" Iggy called out to us, "Move!"

I looked at him confused. Then I saw him pull out one of his man-made bombs. Fang bolted over to Nudge and grabbed her. I ran to Angel and took her hand.

"Angel, go to Fang."

Angel didn't move. Her eyes were still locked on Ari.

"Angel, go!" I yelled at her.

"He'll get away! He'll hurt you!"

I looked at the Erasers, who were only a few feet away now.

"Angel, he won't! Go!" I pushed her to Fang.

Then an Eraser grabbed my arm. I thrashed around to get away, but its grip was too tight on me. I started to panic. _'How am I going to get out of this one?'_ I thought to myself.

'_**You have the power Max.'**_

The Eraser twisted my arm back behind me. I felt my shoulder pop out of place. There was no way out. I had to make a decision: save the flock or save myself.

"Iggy do it!" I yelled.

"Max…" Fang started to say.

The Erasers started closing in on them now.

"Do it! Go! I'm fine!" I screamed as tears streamed down my cheeks.

Then there was a huge bang. The force of the explosion picked me up and threw me backwards. I felt my head hit the wall with a thud as I slid to the ground. Everything around me was getting darker. Voices were yelling near me, but I couldn't understand.

The darkness soon took over me, and I blacked out.

**ooOoo. REVIEW PLEASE!**


	22. Figure

**It's sad, but I don't own Max Ride. James Patterson does, lucky duck**.

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I opened my eyes and quickly sat up. I soon realized that it was a horrible idea.

My shoulder ached like crazy, my whole body felt like a giant bruise. I moaned and lay back down. I looked up and saw that I was in the middle of a forest. _'How the heck did I get here?_' I asked myself.

'**_You'll be surprised Max.'_** The voice said.

'_What?'_

But the voice didn't say anything back. I moaned again and looked down at myself. I saw bloody gauze wrapped around my stomach. I had no idea what was going on. I didn't know if I was at the school, or if I was kidnapped by a crazed scientist. I half expected that I would be dead already from the explosion. _'So what happened to me?'_ I asked out loud. I wondered where the flock was, and if the safely escaped. My eyes filled up with tears just thinking about them.

Then I heard footsteps walk towards me. I gasped and jumped to my feet, ready to fight. But then a wave of pain crashed into me and I fell to the ground.

But I realized that I never hit the ground. I felt someone's arms holding me up and gently laying me back down. It held my head and lightly brushed the hair away of my face. I opened my eyes weakly and saw a dark outline of a person looking down on me. Then I passed out again.

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**I know it's short, so sorry about that. But don't worry, I won't leave ya hangin.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU!**


	23. The Flock

**I'm too lazy to do the disclaimer right now. But James Patterson is cool.**

I woke up to a cool breeze brushing over me, causing me to shiver a little. The pain in my back had subsided, but my shoulder still felt like it was going to fall off at any minute. I sat up and sighed. I noticed that my chest felt tight, like something was wrapped around me. I look down and saw that I'd been wrapped up in gauze. All of the bloody gauze from last night had been replaced by fresh new ones. I looked at my surrounding, only to see that I was sitting in the middle of the woods. The trees swayed high above my head, and moss covered rocks were all around.

I decided to try and get up to look around. I slowly got to my feet and wobbled a bit; my legs felt like rubber. I took my first step-not so bad, second step-okay, third step-not great. I fell right on my butt. I winced from the ache in my shoulder. I tried to move my right hand, but that only sent pain shooting back up my arm. I groaned as I sat there on the ground.

"I am in the middle of nowhere." I said to myself.

Then I suddenly heard whispered and footsteps coming from behind the trees.

"Max!" Angel cried at the top of her lungs.

She threw herself on me and cried. My shoulder absolutely killed, but I was in to much shock to think about it. I couldn't even speak.

Nudge and Gazzy then appeared from behind the trees.

"You're up! Max! How do you feel?" Nudge went on. She kneeled down to give me a hug.

"Hi Max." Gazzy said nervously.

He inched his way over to me and then finally gave me a quick hug.

"How…" Where did..? What happ…" I stuttered.

I was so unbelievable shocked that they were here, sitting in front of me, alive and breathing.

"Well, you told Iggy to throw the bomb." Nudge started.

"And he didn't want to, but the Eraser hit his arm and he dropped it. Then the bomb exploded and made a HUGE hole in the wall. So Fang and Iggy pulled us all out and took us here." Angel continued.

Her cute little face then went from happy and excited, to sad and serious.

"We all were so scared that you, well, you know." Gazzy said sadly.

"But Fang didn't believe it, so he went back for you and brought you here." Nudge said.

"You were barely alive Max. Fang didn't even want us to see you when he brought you here. Iggy told us that you were in really bad shape." Gazzy looked down on the ground.

"But your not dead Max! You're alive!" Angel cheered.

Smiles swept across everyone's faces. I still couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was like that whole explanation went through one ear and right out the other.

"S-so where's Fang and Iggy?" I asked.

"They went to get dinner. There's a little town not far from here." Nudge said, pointing over her shoulder.

"Where are we?" I asked, only because I really wanted to know.

"In Maryland." Angel said excitedly.

'_Maryland. They flew all the way from DC to Maryland in one night. And Fang had come back for me. Why?'_ I thought to myself.

'**_You'll be surprised Max, more than once.'_**

This Voice was getting annoying, but I couldn't get frustrated now, I had my flock here with me.

"They're back!" Angel yelled. The kids got up and ran to them.

Iggy came up beside me and knelt down.

"How are you?" He whispered to me.

"Okay, I feel a lot better than last night." I whispered back to him.

"Max, I'm sorry. I didn't want to throw the bomb. But the Eraser came, and I couldn't see it, and…"

Iggy's blank eyes filled up with tears and he hung his head down.

"Iggy," I said to him as I pulled his head up, "I told you to do it. And I'm glad it happened. If you didn't have that bomb, we would all be dead, or worse, still in the school. Iggy you don't have to apologize, because I'm not dead."

I smiled and kissed Iggy's forehead. He smiled a little and went to give me a hug, but then he stopped.

"How's you're shoulder? I had to pop it back in place. It was dislocated."

"It's okay, still sore, but okay. Thanks for that." I smiled and hugged him tightly.

"I love ya blind dude. And besides, you can't get rid of me that easily."

He laughed and stood up.

"You want me to bring you some food?"

"No. But do you mind helping me get up?"

"You sure?" Iggy said with a concerned look.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Iggy bent down and lowered his hand to me. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. I was a little wobbly, but I was up.

"You sure you can walk?"

"I'll give it a shot. Just don't let go okay?"

"Okay." Iggy said with a smile.

He held onto my arm and took a few steps forward. Surprisingly, I wasn't on my butt yet.

"You good?" Iggy asked.

"Yeah, I haven't fallen yet."

"Camp's only around those trees." He said. I looked at him weirdly.

"How did you know that?"

"Hey, I may be blind, but I'm not dumb."

I laughed. Being with him always makes me happy. I love him like a brother, and I always will.

We slowly arrived at the camp they set up. There was a fire going, and I could smell hot dogs being cooked. I was so hungry; I could probably eat a million.

"I hope you guys bought a lot, 'cause I'm starved." I said to them.

Iggy helped me sit down on the grass and he got a hot dog for me.

"Thanks." I said as I inhaled it.

"Can I have like, 9 more please?" I asked Nudge who was standing in front of the fire.

She handed them to me and in about thirty seconds, all of them were gone.

"Wow Max, you have a big stomach." Gazzy said with a weird expression on his face.

I sat back and watched everyone sit around and eat there hot dogs. I was so happy to be back with them. We were together again, and that was amazing. I looked over at Fang who was sitting down by the fire, looking at the ground. He then raised his head a little and looked up at me. We stared at each other for a few seconds, until he looked away.

'_What's up with him?'_ I thought to myself.

'**_Give him time. He's been through a lot.'_**

'_He's been through a lot? We all have.'_

'_**All will come in due time.'**_

'_What are you now, a fortune cookie?'_

Of course, the Voice said nothing after that. I did feel bad for making Fang worry like that. But I wasn't expecting him to ignore me. But, anyways, I didn't want to get all worked up over it. Now I was with my family, and I loved it. I was so happy to be out of that Institute. But I had a feeling that we should keep on moving. I wanted to be as far away from Washington D.C. as possible.

"Hey guys," I called out to everyone. They all looked up at me with hotdogs stuffed in their mouths.

"We soon start moving again soon, okay?"

"Can we go to Disney again?" Angel squealed.

"How about to a beach, or a lake. That'd be fun. Or we can go to Vermont and ski. I've always wanted to go skiing!"

"I was thinking of going more out west." I said.

"We should go to Montana!" Nudge shouted.

"What's in Montana?" Iggy raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know, but we could go." Nudge shrugged.

Everyone laughed at her; even Fang chuckled a little bit.

"So tomorrow morning, let's head out okay?"

"But Max, can you fly?"

I hadn't thought of that. My back still hurt, and my wings were a little cramped up. I guess I'd have to test them out tonight.

"I should be better my morning." I said, forcing a smile.

I was nervous to see how that would work out. But I guess I had to give it a shot. It was dark outside now, so everyone cleaned up and decided to get some sleep. We all tapped fists and everyone lie down and quickly fell asleep. But I was, of course, wide awake.

I sat myself up carefully next to a tree and watched the flock sleep. Everyone was there, except Fang. I looked around and saw Fang sitting against a tree trunk near me, looking at the still lit fire. I had to talk to him, but for some reason I was a little nervous.

**I know, wayyy weird to end the chapter that way. But it was getting really long! I'll try and post the next one soon!**

**Reviews would be lovely.**

**WARNING: Faxness may be slightly included in next chapter ;) Now Review!**


	24. Breaking the silence

**James Patterson rocks. Thank you :D**

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I waited until all of the kids were fast asleep before I went to talk to Fang. That took only about two minutes, so I took a deep breath and stood up. I staggered a little bit at first, but I kept on walking. Finally, I was just about one foot away from him, when I fell right on my butt. I groaned loudly and rubbed my shoulder.

I hear a small chuckle come from Fang, but then it quickly disappeared.

"What are you laughin' at?" I said.

"Does your butt hurt?" He said, smirking at the fire.

"Be quiet." I forced myself not to laugh.

We sat there in total silence for a while. Finally I broke it.

"Fang, I'm sorry I…"

"You don't have to be." He picked up a stick and threw it at the fire.

"Yes I do, because…"

"There's no reason to be."

I was getting a little annoyed with him not letting me finish. "Why?"

"You saved us." He said quietly.

I was a little surprised. That wasn't really the answer that I'd expected to get. Honestly, I wasn't even expecting him to answer at all.

"What?" I looked at him confused.

"You saved us."

"Iggy had the bomb. If he didn't have that, we would all be still at that Institute."

"Yeah, but you told him to throw it." Fang was almost whispering now.

I didn't say anything after that. I didn't really know what to say.

"You chose us over yourself." He whispered, leaning is head up against the wall.

"What?"

"You chose us over yourself."

"I know what you said. But what do you mean?"

"You didn't care about yourself; you just wanted to get us out of there."

"I didn't want you guys to get hurt again. They'd done enough to you already."

"Yeah, and they didn't hurt you?" He looked over at my robe.

"I know. I just couldn't forgive myself for making you guys go there in the first place."

Fang then narrowed his eyes on mine.

"Will you stop blaming yourself? You didn't do anything. You didn't plan on getting us kidnapped. You didn't make Ari hurt you like that. That was all _their_ fault. _Not_ yours. So stop."

I was gaping at Fang. I've never heard him say anything like that before, especially to me.

"Sorry. I just feel bad I guess."

"Well don't." He said as he turned his head to look at the fire again.

"You were more of a leader that night then you were before."

My eyes started to tear up now. That was the nicest, and weirdest, thing he had ever said to me.

"Thanks." I sniffed, "And thanks for coming back for me."

"Yeah well, I knew you wouldn't die that easily."

I hit him on the arm, but then gasped at the throbbing of my shoulder.

"Hurts?" He looked at me and asked.

"Yeah."

"How's your back?"

"It's fine."

Fang then gave me the 'yeah right you liar' look.

"Okay, it's not great."

Fang looked satisfied and scooted over closer to me.

"Your shoulder looks pretty bad." He whispered and leaned in to look at it.

Then he lightly touched it.

"Does that hurt?"

I gave him the 'duh' look and he smiled. A cold breeze swept over us, making me shiver. I was only wearing the hospital robe that I had gotten from the Institute. Fang put his arm around me and rubbed my good shoulder.

"How's your chest?" I asked, trying to break the silence.

He said as he pulled down his shirt and revealed his cut had been all bandaged up.

"I'm tuff anyways." He looked down at me and smiled.

"Yeah right."

"I'm tougher than you." He said playfully.

"In your dreams."

He and I laughed for a while, and then sat in silence once again.

"Fang?" I said looking up at him.

He looked at me, "Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"Everything." I smiled and leaned my head on his shoulder.

Fang kissed my forehead and leaned his head on top of mine. Fang was really surprising me tonight, but I didn't care. For once, I felt safe, which is weird to say after almost getting killed by a bomb. But being here with my flock was the most important thing in the world right now.

'**_There are still things happening Max. Be ready.'_**

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**Do you think it's time for a sequel? Not quite sure.**

**Reviews would be much appreciated :) **


	25. Dead or alive

**Hey. Just wanted to remind you that James Patterson is cool :)**

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Fang and I sat in front of the fire for a while. I put the Voice's little comment in the back of my mind. I didn't feel like getting all worked up right now. I just wanted to sit here forever.

"So do you want me to take first watch?" Fang asked me.

"No, I probably won't be able to sleep. You go."

"You sure you're okay?" He asked, looking slightly concerned.

"Yeah."

Fang then stood up and brushed himself off.

"And Fang?" I said, right before he was about to go lay down.

He looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

"Thanks." I smiled.

He flashed a quick smile back and patted my head. I watching him walk away and lie down next to Nudge and Gazzy. I couldn't help but smile. I was here with my flock, and nothing was better.

'**_Don't loose focus Max.'_**

'_Why? What's there to focus on? They're all dead.'_

'**_Are you dead?'_**

'_No, but…they were…'_ My thoughts trailed off.

I wasn't dead. So was everyone else dead? I was getting really paranoid now. Who was alive? Jeb? Ari? Then it hit me.

'_Cool new feature.'_

I sat up and looked around quickly. Ari was indestructible, along with at least half of the other Erasers. I knew we needed to get away, now. I got up and quietly went over to where everyone was sleeping. I decided to wake Fang up first. I needed to talk to him before the others.

"Fang." I whispered quietly as I lightly shook his shoulder.

He slowly opened his eyes and sat up.

"Sorry."

"It's fine. I can't sleep anyways."

"Fang," I sat down next to him. "We need to leave. They're not dead."

"What?" He looked at me confused.

"No one could've have died in that explosion. Ari is indestructible, and I think a lot of the other Erasers are too."

"How do you know?"

"The Voice gave me a little hint."

Fang nodded and looked around.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, I just thought I heard something."

Iggy suddenly sat up.

"Iggy?" I asked nervously.

"I hear someone coming."

"Okay, you two wake everyone up. I'll put the fire out. If you hear anything else, run."

They nodded. I walked over to the bucket of water and quickly poured it on what was left of the fire. I was shaking now, partly from fear, and partly because I was freezing.

"Max!" Iggy yelled.

I spun around, only to find myself starring into a pair of familiar black eyes.

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**oh man. kind of a short chapter, sorry. But please review anyways. **

**I also need opinions on if the story is getting a bit to long or not. Suggestions please! so review! THANK YOU!**


	26. Realization

**Hi. James Patterson is awesome.**

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It was Ari. My worst nightmare had come true. Eraser Ari stood in front of me with an evil smirk on his face. His black eyes looked like death.

I couldn't move. I was standing there gaping at him.

"You thought to could kill me huh?"

My heart rate tripled its normal rate, and I could feel myself starting to sweat. I wanted to scream and run, but something inside wasn't letting me.

"U and A?" I heard Fang whisper from behind me.

I finally nodded my head slightly and turned my head to look at him. He nodded back. Ari was still standing in front of me, with an amused look on his face.

"You can't kill me Max. I thought I already showed you that." He now wore a wide, toothy grin.

I clenched my jaw and looked at Fang again. I mouthed 'On three'. He nodded. I counted to myself. 'One….Two…'

"Now!" I yelled over my shoulder.

I shot up into the air with the rest of the flock. Usually I'm so happy to fly, but this time I was shaking with fear. I tried to think of where to go, but I barely knew where I was.

"Fang! Where?" I desperately yelled to him.

At first he looked at me oddly, but then he turned to the kids and yelled, "Cave!"

All of the kids nodded and took off. I was so confused.

"Follow me." Fang yelled as he took off.

I obeyed flew up beside him.

"It's near town. You were still out when we found it." He said, reading my mind.

I nodded and went back to concentrating on my surroundings. Then I thought about what Fang just said.

"Fang, just how long was I out for?"

Fang tightened up as he flew. I saw his expression go from blank, to worried, then back to blank again within just a matter of seconds. He then turned his head to look at me.

"A week and a half." He said with no emotion.

My mouth hung open. _A week and a half? How? It was only just two days ago. That can't be!_ I began to feel woozy and my head started to pound.

'**_You'd be surprise Max.'_** The Voice randomly popped into my head.

'_How? This can't be true.'_

'_**It is. You really affected them.'**_

'_I know.'_

I just wanted to beat the crap out of myself now. I hurt them, yet again.

'**_More so to the one you least expected.'_**

'_Who?'_

Then I realized, Fang. I hurt him. My eyes started to well up with tears. I looked over at him. He looked so tired, so drained. I then started to silently cry and beat myself up inside. I felt like such a loser.

"It's up ahead." Fang said, bringing me back to the present.

I wiped my eyes and saw a rocky hill come closer into view. A few minutes later we landed. The kids were all sitting around, eating left over granola bars and hot dogs. Looking at them made me feel even more depressed. I needed to clear my thoughts.

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**Thank you very much to everyone who reviewed. Helped alot :) But please review some more! feedback is nice!**


	27. Safe

**Hi, well James Patterson his awesome :D**

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"I'm gonna go look around." I said quietly and walked away.

The cave was deep, so I walked until I couldn't see the flock anymore and sat down. I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face in them. Then I let the river of tears that I had held inside of me flow out. I cried for what felt like forever. The flock probably thought I had gotten kidnapped again or something. Just thinking of that made me cry even harder.

"Max?" I heard Fang say from around the corner.

I shot up quickly and wiped the tears stains off of my face.

"What are you doing back here?"

"Nothing." I said, forcing out a fake smile.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I tried to act normal, though my nose was stuffed and my eyes were probably red.

"Max, I saw you crying, so you might as well tell me what's going on."

I drew in a deep breath and let it out. I was embarrassed telling Fang my problems, all of the time. _What am I suppose to say?_

"So?" He asked, crossing his arms and starring me down.

Finally I sucked it up. "Why didn't you tell me?" I sounded like a mouse with a cold.

"What?"

"You didn't tell me that I was passed out for that long." I sniffed.

"Oh, that? Well, I don't know," He scratched his head awkwardly. "I didn't want you to feel bad."

"Well, now I feel horrible." I could feel the waterworks begin start up again, but I held back.

"Well don't." He said with a low and serious tone.

"How could I not? I'm always the one to get hurt Fang, always. And you always have to come and save me. I'm just so stupid. You should lead them, not me." I stopped after that last sentence. _What did I just say?_

Fang looked taken aback at first, but then he stepped towards me and put his hands on my shoulders.

"Max, stop."

I shook him off of me and started pacing. He just stood there and watched me go back and forth in front of him.

"I'm serious. Jeb wants _me_ Fang, not you guys. _I'm_ the one putting you all in danger here. So what should…"

Fang grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"Max. Will you just shut up? Yeah, you do get hurt, but so does everyone else. And yeah, Jeb and all of those other idiots might want you. But we need you too Max. I couldn't make it with them on my own."

We stared coldly at each other for a while until I looked away. He sighed and let go of my arm.

'Sorry." I whispered, looking at the ground.

"It's fine." He was about to turn to walk away when I stopped him.

"Fang."

"What?"

I slowly walked towards him and stopped when I was about an inch away from his chest.

"Sorry I scared you."

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly. At first he did nothing, but then I felt his arms around me, hugging me back. I always loved the feeling of safety I had when I was with Fang. He was there when I really needed him, and now he was here for me again.

I finally broke away from him and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. Fang put his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground.

He cleared his throat. "We should go back."

"Yeah," I said quietly. We walked back to their camp in an awkward silence.

"You know, you're lucky I was so nice to you, because you look like a mess from crying so much."

I punched his arm and laughed.

"Yeah well, you should find a mirror."

Fang smiled at me and laughed a little too.

We got to the entrance of the cave and found everyone sleeping together on the ground. Iggy was sitting on a rock off to the side.

"There you two are. What were you doing? Making out?"

My face turned bright red. I tried hiding it behind my hair.

"Noo!" We both said at the same time.

"Sure, what ever you say." Iggy said, raising his hands up in defense.

"Alright Ig, I'll take over." I said, watching Iggy yawn.

"Okay thanks. Goodnight."

"G'night Iggy." I rolled my eyes at him.

"I got second watch. You go sleep." I said, turning my attention back to Fang.

"No, I got it. You need to sleep."

"Fang, I've slept for a week and a half, remember? You go."

He smirked, "Okay Miss Stubborn. You sure?"

"Yes." I laughed.

We tapped fists and he turned to walk away.

"Goodnight, Miss Stubborn." He called over his shoulder.

"Night Fnick."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Reviews are amazing!**


	28. SEQUAL IS OUT!

**Heyy guys! i've just posted the sequel to Long Time No See. The new adventure is called: Break.**

**The summary:** They already bombed the new Institute, so where should the flock go from there? And what would happen if nobody died in that explosion...

Read the first chapter, it's sort of like a prologue. So for you who hasn't read it, READ IT! I'll post the new chapter soon!

and sadly, it is over for Long Time No See. but a new adventure awaits...Break


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